- Put in touch by her husband with the owner of the Revue des Deux Mondes Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, Penelope Fillon was hired from May 2012 as "literary advisor" until December 2013.
- For several months, she combined this job with that of parliamentary assistant for her husband, who became a deputy in June 2012.
- In total, only two of his reading sheets were published by the review and his advice to "redirect" and "revitalize" the review was not or very little requested by the owner of the title.
In this month of May 2012, the slogan bars all of François Hollande's campaign posters: "Change is now" predicted the socialist candidate. At the same time in the muffled corridors of the hotel in Matignon, Penelope Fillon, the wife of the Prime Minister, also thinks about it: “The children had left home, I wanted to assert myself outside of my work parliamentary assistant, I was looking for a new challenge, it was a desire for change. "
Her desire became a reality thanks to the intermediary of her husband who organized a meeting between his wife and Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, friend of the couple, entrepreneur and owner of the monthly magazine Revue des Deux Mondes. The interview paid off on May 2, as France vibrated to the rhythm of the in-between rounds of the presidential election, Penelope Fillon signed her new work contract. She will now be a literary advisor responsible for revitalizing and rejuvenating the title.
3,900 euros net per month
If the court looked into this episode of his career this Thursday, it is because the activity of Penelope Fillon within the framework of this contract appeared very thin in the eyes of the investigating magistrates. To the point that the wife of François Fillon is today on trial for "misuse of corporate assets". When Penelope signs this literary adviser contract under her maiden name - Clarke - she concedes it, she has negotiated nothing. Neither his compensation fixed at 5,000 euros gross per month (3,900 euros net approximately), nor his status as a manager, nor the fixed rate fixed at 218 working days. "I accepted Mr. de Lacharrière's decision, I did not negotiate, but I found that it was a generous salary, it's true," she slips.
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During their tête-à-tête, Marc de Lacharrière, paints a picture of his magazine. The monthly loses subscribers and suffers according to him from an old-fashioned image. "He wanted to make changes and he thought my foreign perspective could be useful. I was not part of the Parisian intellectual world at all and I was free to say what I thought, ”explains Penelope Fillon. Man also fixes their working methods. Monthly meetings at the home of the Fillon couple will be organized to discuss the strategic directions to be promoted. Passionate about literature, the sexagenarian is also led to write notes for reading books sent by the editorial staff.
Penelope Fillon's inertia
Very quickly, however, Penelope Fillon found herself idle. “There were meetings at the start and then not at all. I told myself that he was very busy (…) I probably should have come forward to ask him what was going on and I did not dare to do this for fear of disturbing him ”, justifies the wife by François Fillon. "A defect of character" which she claims to have regretted ever since. At the same time, she still applies herself to writing her reading sheets. In total, over the entire duration of his contract, only two will be published in the Revue des Deux Mondes sur la dix produced by Penelope Fillon.
The president still insists: why not come forward when she was no longer asked about her activity as a literary advisor?
"I was grateful for the fact that he had offered me, given me work, I didn't see myself demanding more, I should have" #Fillon
The vice-financial prosecutor, Aurélien Létocart, is surprised: "And you do not tell yourself that there is a problem? ". "Yes, I thought there was a problem, she admits, and I didn't have enough work (…) but I was optimistic, I thought it would change and I pushed back" . Asked in turn at the end of the day, François Fillon points to the responsibility of his friend Marc de Lacharrière: "If Penelope was not my wife, she would not have to answer just one of these questions. The truth is that there are plastered employees in all French companies and it is still up to employers to ensure that their employees are given enough work ”. According to the couple, Penelope Fillon would also have paid the price for a disagreement between the title owner and its editor at the time, Michel Crépu. Tired, the wife of the Sarthois elected official will end up breaking his contract at the end of 2013.
"I worked in the morning, in the evening"
Beyond the activity carried out by the accused, another point concentrated the questions of the court: that of the multiple employment of Penelope Fillon. In July 2012, yet already employed full time for the monthly, she was again hired as parliamentary assistant by her husband, who had become a member of Parliament for Paris a few months earlier. The president, Nathalie Gavarino, questions: "How did you envisage combining the two jobs, collaborator and literary advisor? ". Naturally, Penelope Fillon advanced: "I could organize myself as I wanted, (…) I worked in the morning, in the evening".
Pugnace, the vice-prosecutor Aurélien Létocart insists with François Fillon: "If you thought that his work was going to have the consistency that suggested by his contract, why do you hire him?" ". Phlegmatic, the former Prime Minister praises the Stakhanovist qualities of his collaborator: “Because she had the time and the capacity to do so. There are a lot of people who work with me and who are not satisfied with the 35 hours, it is not our way of seeing, we work on weekends (…) It seemed to us to be completely compatible ”.
The trial will resume Monday March 9 at 1:30 p.m.
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Fillon trial: "There was never any question of compensation" assures Marc Joulaud about the Penelope Fillon position
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Fillon trial: "It's impossible to say that I did this as a wife or a collaborator, everything was mixed" confides Penelope Fillon
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