Lille (AFP)

Judged Thursday in Lille with his clan and that of his first deputy, for a fraudulent system of tax exemption via political micro-parties, the mayor of Roubaix Guillaume Delbar pleaded good faith and assured that the money had never been his motor.

"It happens in the family", summarizes the president of the criminal court, Jean-Marc Defossez.

On the benches of the defendants, Guillaume Delbar, the various right-wing mayor of this city of 98,000 inhabitants, reelected in 2020, rubs shoulders with, among others, his wife, his mother, his cousin, his first deputy, Max-André Pick, another assistant , Karima Zouggagh, as well as two sons and wife of Mr. Pick.

They are being prosecuted for fraud by an organized gang.

Four, including Max-André Pick and Mr. Delbar's wife Caroline, are also accused of breach of trust.

At the heart of the matter, a system created by Max-André Pick and Pascal Legrand, which passed tens of thousands of euros between 2015 and 2020 between micro-parties dedicated to financing electoral campaigns and fictitious associations.

The donors of these micro-parties could tax two-thirds of the sums they paid to them but also recovered, via checks from these "empty shell" associations, 85% of the amounts initially paid.

This system was put in place twice, with the parties "Vivement Tomorrow" then "Living differently locally", which kept only 15% of the donations.

The other defendants, including Mr. Delbar, answer for concealment of breach of trust and would have benefited from this system.

- "Not even the codes" -

"I do not understand what you are accusing me of. You want to demonstrate that there is only one system but I just have people from my family who were my first political supporters," says Guillaume Delbar, hands behind his back .

“Money is not my engine,” he insists, pointing out that his wife Caroline was holding the purse strings for the countryside.

"I don't even know the codes of my bank accounts."

Asked about 11.0000 euros affected by the association Les Amis et Citoyens Engagements (ACE) in 2015, his wife Caroline assures us that she was not worried about it because she was used to receiving reimbursements of campaign costs by Vivement Tomorrow.

Mr. Pick would have simply said to him "now it is ACE which reimburses".

The debates revolve around a family meal during which Mrs. Delbar would have convinced her relatives to finance her husband's campaign.

To the president and the prosecutor who seek to know if she has promised them the reimbursement of their donation, she gets confused by evoking a partial reimbursement "in exchange for political activity" but her mother-in-law then admits to never having gone to stick. posters.

- Bonus -

Earlier, Guillaume Delbar's first assistant, Max-André Pick, had assured that he had believed "in perfect good faith" that the system created was legal.

"At the first alert from the campaign accounts committee, I would have immediately stopped all activity," he continued, while many defendants indicated that they had taken advantage of this system because they had full confidence in it. .

Mr. Pick also benefited himself from the system, with a refund of 100%, against the 85% of the others, a "bonus" had fun the president.

"I wonder if the people who govern us have their heads on their shoulders! Children say + to give is to give, to take back is to steal. + It does not take long studies to understand that a gift is a donation !"

he said, good man, to the elected, who is also vice-president of the North department, in charge of finances.

One of Mr. Pick's sons pleads "naivety".

Mr. Delbar's cousin, when she receives a refund check for her donation in support of her cousin's career, believes in "a balance of the purse".

In tears, the deputy mayor Karima Zouggagh, who created one of the screen associations, claimed her "credulity", saying she believed to benefit from a "tax loophole", the legality of which was guaranteed by her "mentor" Max -André Pick.

At the opening of the hearing, the defense lawyers had filed a priority question of constitutionality, denouncing a breach of equality linked to the fact of prosecuting their clients for fraud and not for tax evasion.

Pleadings and requisitions are expected Friday.

© 2021 AFP