Will the head of the municipal police of Bessan, in Biterrois, be convicted of passive corruption ?

Les avocats des trois prévenus, qui nient tout en bloc, ont demandé la relaxe de leur client. Illustration – ML

Prévenu de "corruption passion", the police chief appeared Monday March 11 before the Béziers court, alongside a former colleague, still a municipal police officer in a village in Biterrois, and her companion. The judgment was reserved for March 25. 

Two of the three defendants who appear free this March 11 before  the Béziers court risks big. The first, the one who started it all, is a 46-year-old from Florensac prosecuted for "fraud, theft with destruction or damage, forgery in an administrative document (…), use of false (…) and "threat of crime". The court's decision will not punish him as much as his alleged acolytes.

Firstly, the head of the municipal police (PM) of Bessan, who must answer for "passive corruption". Then the former colleague and friend of the latter, municipal police officer today in another commune in Biterrois, prosecuted for "complicity in theft and aggravated money laundering&quot ;, companion of the first defendant.

If the court decides, the latter two risk losing their jobs, their profession. "A professional killing", as the lawyers of the two representatives of the order described it. But to be determined, the alleged perpetrators will have to wait until March 25, when the decision will be rendered. 

The defendants completely deny the alleged facts

The story, summarized by president Christophe Rolland, begins with the Florensacois who buys, repairs and resells cars. He even issues registration documents on request. And bills. All this without having a company, without being registered in the commercial register. The money from his transactions goes to the account of his partner: the municipal police officer. More precisely, on one of its seven accounts. But she will say that she thought she only had one, that the others are from old accounts.

The situation could have stayed there. But two "customers" of "vehicle seller" alleged (civil parties in this trial, absent this March 11) file a complaint for car theft. Then, secondly, one of the two complainants files a new complaint against, this time, the director of the PM. He called her to offer her 13,000 euros; in order to withdraw his complaint. He would also have promised him a contract for a market (the defendant has a security company) in his village, and would have threatened to fire his cousin, a municipal police officer under the orders of the accused director. The latter would have organized a meal at his home, inviting this cousin and his partner, to, among other things, obtain the telephone number of the Florensacois. Objective, announced by the head of the PM ? He wanted "to settle the matter", but this It took a bad turn and he would have quickly withdrawn, his counsel said. 

Word against word

A third complainant comes into play, also absent during the hearing: invoices stamped in the name of his former company (the man returned to live in the country) were allegedly published by the defendant , without him knowing anything about it.

The three defendants completely deny the accusations. They all indicate that they do not understand the complaints, the accusations, their appearance…

For prosecutor David Durand, the reality is not that displayed and narrated at the bar. For the Florensacois, it requires a reclassification of the facts into "deception" , and not & quot;fraud", and requests 12 months suspended prison sentence; for his partner, 6 months suspended sentence, 5 years ban on carrying out a public service mission: "We are indeed dealing here with an undeclared economic activity and money transferred to one of his accounts. Whitening is made up of ". For the head of the PM of Bessan, he requires a prison sentence  of 12 months suspended sentence, also a ban on public service for 5 years: "You are chief of police, you do not intervene" in this type of case. 

The lawyers for the alleged victims all pleaded for the release of their client. "To the prosecution to prove the alleged offenses and misdemeanors", launched the advice of the head of the PM, for whom the& ;#39;his client's intervention in this matter is just "help to a friend". "There was no pressure on anyone." He recalls that one of the complainants, the one who filed a complaint against his client, is currently  in detention for aggravated extortion. 

Decision therefore in ten days.

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