This Thursday, December 10, Brigitte Barèges is judged in a case of embezzlement of public funds at the town hall of Montauban, in which she is the main implicated. The hearing began around 8:30 am and should last a good part of the day at the Toulouse court.
Arriving, the LR mayor of Montauban said thatshe wouldn’t make any statement neither before nor after the trial. However, she dropped:“I feel a little humiliated especially as a former lawyer to go to the other side.”
“I feel a little humiliated especially as a former lawyer to go to the other side.”
A case that the mayor of Montauban has been dragging behind her for a while, since it dates back more than five years, in 2014. Brigitte Barèges was then both mayor of Montauban, but also a candidate for her re-election to the municipal elections, but of suspicion of fraud weigh on his campaign.
One of his former collaborators, Jean-Paul Fourment, says he was employed at the town hall, but on behalf of the candidate. A fictitious job where he was paid by the town hall to write in the Small Journal, a local daily, glowing articles on the work of the mayor, then in the race for his re-election. A prohibited process, since it amounts to promoting a candidate with money from the town hall, public funds.
Four defendants against three opposition elected officials
At the helm, Brigitte Barèges, her former chief of staff Stéphane Bensmaine, and Jean-Paul Fourment, the famous fictitious employee heard for concealment of embezzlement of public funds. Alain Paga, the boss of Small Journal, will also be heard.
Faced with the four defendants, opposition municipal councilors joined as a civil party, in particular Arnaud Hilion, former unsuccessful candidate for the municipal elections of 2020, Jeannine Meignan and Rodolphe Portoles, from the left group The Alternative for Montauban.
