Paris (AFP)
MoDem President Francois Bayrou reassured his activists by expressing in a letter his "determination" and his "friendship" after his indictment Friday for alleged fictitious jobs that he said "never" existed.
This close Emmanuel Macron has been indicted for complicity in embezzlement of public funds in the survey of assistants of MEPs Democratic Movement (MoDem). A dozen party officials have also been indicted, including former MEP Sylvie Goulard, former Minister of Justice Michel Mercier or vice president of MoDem Marielle de Sarnez.
"To you who are so committed, who share every day of our struggles, I want to say our collective determination and my unwavering friendship," writes the centrist leader to his activists, in a letter dated Sunday, whose AFP has obtained a copy.
The former minister assures that his party "never used the European institutions for its advantage" and "never used fictitious jobs".
"All the European parliamentary assistants whose name is quoted by the newspapers, without exception, worked for the parliamentarians of which they were the collaborators and under their direct responsibility", details the mayor of Pau.
"Some of them had part-time contracts, shared with our movement, which are - and thankfully! - perfectly legal," he adds.
He also considers this practice "perfectly moral" because a "parliamentarian needs his party for the accomplishment of his mission".
François Bayrou judges "painful" the accusations against the MoDem, victim according to him "of denunciation and defamation on behalf of fragile personalities and especially of political opponents with whom we have been in confrontation and in lawsuit", even if "a slander is not a reality. "
The MoDem's founder, who has three ministers in the government, admits that this indictment is "a further challenge", as these lawsuits could weaken his position in the presidential majority.
© 2019 AFP