Emmanuel Macron decided to ask the Superior Council of the Judiciary for an opinion to "analyze whether the national financial prosecutor's office was able to carry out its activity with complete peace of mind, without pressure", during its investigation into the Fillon case, announced the Elysée Friday night. 

The head of state wants to "remove any doubt about the independence and impartiality of justice in this case," said the Elysee, after the words of the former national financial prosecutor Eliane Houlette, who had moved by the "very close control" that the General Prosecutor's Office, its direct supervisory authority, would have exercised in the conduct of the investigations launched in the midst of the 2017 presidential campaign. " revealing possible pressures which could have been exerted on justice in an open procedure at an essential moment of our democratic life ", estimates the Elysée.

>> READ ALSO -  The two errors that precipitated the fall of François Fillon

"Remove any doubt about the independence and impartiality of the judiciary in this case"

The President of the Republic acts as "guarantor of the independence of the judicial authority", specifies the press release. Heard on June 10 by the parliamentary commission of inquiry on the independence of the justice system, Éliane Houlette, now retired, reaffirmed having decided in January 2017, in complete independence, to open an investigation targeting the Fillon spouses after suspicions of fictitious jobs revealed by Le Canard enchaîné .

But she was also moved by the "very close control" that the General Prosecutor's Office allegedly exercised in the conduct of the investigations. His statements caused a great stir and accusations in the camp of François Fillon but also on the part of Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon. In a statement to AFP Friday, Eliane Houlette "regretted" that his words were "distorted or misunderstood" and said that the pressures mentioned were "not on the facts alleged against François Fillon nor on the merits of prosecutions "but" were purely procedural ".

"François Fillon has not been indicted at the request or under pressure from the executive," she insisted. The investigation had poisoned the candidacy of François Fillon at the Élysée Palace and in the spring of 2020 led to his criminal trial alongside his wife Penelope in particular. The judgment is expected on June 29.

.