• The PS president of the departmental council of Gers, Philippe Martin, was sentenced to two years in prison for the fictitious employment of his ex-wife in the National Assembly when he was a deputy.

  • He will have to reimburse the National Assembly for the 230,000 euros then paid to his ex-wife.

  • The former minister of François Hollande admitted the facts during the plea-guilty hearing.

Between 2002 and 2013, the ex-wife of Philippe Martin, the current PS president of the departmental council of Gers, held a fictitious job of parliamentary assistant, paid by her husband, then a member of the first constituency of Gers.

These embezzlement of public funds, denounced by anonymous letters in 2017, led this Tuesday the former minister of François Hollande to be sentenced to two years in prison.

The 68-year-old elected will also have to reimburse the National Assembly for the 238,000 euros paid during this period to his former wife, Joëlle Martin, who received a six-month probationary suspension for complicity and concealment of embezzlement of public funds.

Both were also declared ineligible for three years and will have to pay respectively 70,000 and 30,000 euros in fines.

During their appearance in hearing to plead guilty, neither of them was able to provide a "material trace" of the work carried out by Joëlle Martin, who had no contact with the other parliamentary assistants who were unaware of her function, indicated the financial attorney, Sébastien de La Touanne.

Acknowledgment of the facts

A hiring that had not been declared to the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP) either.

A suspended sentence, justified according to the other representative of the public prosecutor, Aurélien Létocart, because they both “testified to a certain capacity for amendment”.

Philippe Martin, will also have to reimburse 194,000 euros to the National Assembly for the remuneration of a woman working for the Socialist Party of Gers between 2005 and 2012. "I agree to recognize the facts and accept the proposed penalties," said the one who was also president of the French Biodiversity Agency.

In a press release, quoted by France Bleu Occitanie, Philippe Martin indicates that “This agreement puts an end to a 5-year-old affair for facts dating back more than 15 years.

I accepted the sentences handed down and paid all the fines that were requested from me ”.

Before specifying that in the future, he would continue "to act and work in the interest of Gers and Gersois".

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  • National Assembly

  • Misappropriation of public funds

  • Departments

  • Fictitious employment

  • Justice

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