Prosecuted for embezzlement of public funds and illegal taking of interest, in two separate cases, the former socialist deputy of Bouches-du-Rhône Henri Jibrayel, 71, was sentenced on appeal on Tuesday to a total of five years imprisonment, including two years.
This sentence can be served at home under an electronic bracelet.
The judges of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal increased the sentences handed down in 2020 and 2021 by the Marseille Criminal Court. He will also have to pay two fines totaling 40,000 euros. As in the first instance, the former elected, now retired from political life, was sentenced in both cases to a five-year ineligibility sentence.
At the end of the hearing, the former deputy for the northern districts of Marseille announced his intention to appeal to the Court of Cassation against the two judgments, to "demonstrate (his) honesty": "The presidents of the Marseille criminal court and of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal declared that there was no personal enrichment", insisted the former deputy.
In the case of embezzlement of public funds, Henri Jibrayel was sentenced to two years in prison, including nine months firm (instead of one year, including six months firm in the first instance) for having played in the casino with funds paid by the National Assembly. The former deputy (2007-2017) had recognized a gambling addiction before being banned from a casino at his request.
He will have to pay 18,500 euros in damages to the National Assembly.
In a previous case, concerning the organization of mini-cruises for the elderly in his constituency and for electoral purposes, Henri Jibrayel was sentenced, for breach of trust and illegal taking of interest, to three years in prison, including fifteen firm month, instead of thirty months, ten of which are firm in the first instance.
On the other hand, the appeal judges confirmed the amount of damages, ie 51,500 euros, that Mr. Jibrayel will have to pay to the departmental council of Bouches-du-Rhône from which he was elected.
Anxious, according to the judges, to regain his mandate in the National Assembly, Mr. Jibrayel had used three associations from the northern districts over which he had control (two were chaired by his parliamentary assistant and substitute, the other by a relative). to pay the amount of these two sea trips organized in May 2011 and June 2012 for some 1,200 elderly people.
Member of the permanent committee of the Departmental Council, Henri Jibrayel had allowed the granting of subsidies to these associations. In 2020, the criminal court had pointed to the elected official as "de facto manager" of these associations and denounced "a totally misguided use of the subsidies allocated".
Referring to "two decisions based on errors of law", Me Jorge Mendes Constante, lawyer for Mr. Jibrayel, denounced "disproportionate sentences in view of the facts. In one of the cases, we made a sea trip, in the other we demonstrated that the money played was his and not that of the National Assembly".
23/05/2023 11:36:18 - Marseille (AFP) © 2023 AFP
