Penelope Fillon, the spouse of a former Prime Minister François Fillon, has given up her municipal councilor in community of Solesmes, Sarthe having been informed by judicial verdict of her sentences. It was only expected that the Court of Cassation indeed left Ms. Fillon on the hook of the 2-year imprisonment, the 375000 eur fine and the 2-year disqualification which effectively made her lose her seat from the municipal council.
Mayor Pascal Lelièvre accepted the resignation of Ms. Fillion on April 25, 2022 at the time when the court made its ruling, adding her regret because by leaving her position she resigned from the municipal work coworkers who were very active. Public release of the French Court of Cassation’s verdict is the most recent milestone in the history of the scandal that had disqualified François Fillon from a race in 2017 and thus denied him an opportunity to run for president.
The Fillon case, which concerned the so-called fictitious job creation for his spouse and two of their children, as well as other financial misdemeanors, became the centre of legal proceedings for the former PM. At last, he was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and an large amount of money. Later the sentence was reduced after an appeal. However, in the recent judgment of Cassation, which was by the Court of Sessions, he was found guilty again and he was expected to have a new trial to reconsider his penalty and damages imposed to his wife too.
The Fillons have since been going through legal problems since the incidence of the scandal in 2017 which have affected their political careers and garnered them a nationwide coverage. In the process of Penelope Fillon stepping down from her given position, the effects on the political job scam keep spreading out throughout the French government.
