Once again, this afternoon, Friday July 29, the large courtroom of the Chartres court was packed.
A large part of the Pakistanis tried in May for fraud and money laundering in an organized gang, had come to hear the judges’ decision.
Because, for many, the stakes were high after the requisitions of Pomme Durand, the public prosecutor, who demanded the confiscation of all the real estate acquired thanks to false documents.
premium At the Court of Justice of Chartres: fakes for real credits
Some admitted as much, but most denied being taken into their confidence by the broker they had gone to for a home loan. The man confessed at his trial to having drawn up false payslips and false tax notices to make their file credible with the bank.
“Undeclared work and fraud”
From the beginning of the procedure, the bank claimed forfeiture of the term of the loans, obliging its debtors to settle them. “These are sums from concealed work or tax evasion”, motivated the president of the hearing, prior to the deliberation, to justify the convictions for money laundering.
They were all also convicted of organized fraud. A large-scale scam, staged by Khalid Mehmood, nicknamed Tarek, the occult broker of the Pakistani community. In exchange for a substantial commission, he made a point of obtaining the loans by providing false documents to the bank.
Already sentenced in 2015 by the court of Pontoise (Val-d’Oise) for the same reason, he was sentenced to thirty months in prison and a fine of €70,000. His conviction is accompanied by a permanent ban on exercising a profession in the field of finance.
The forty-eight buyers were all given sentences ranging from three months suspended prison sentence to twelve months in prison, depending on their criminal record and their involvement. But also to fines in a range of 30,000 to 45,000 €. A double penalty which, for a dozen of them, turned into a triple penalty with the confiscation of their property.
One of the defendants was confiscated three apartments acquired through false documents. Some were sentenced to a ban from French territory.
This situation prompted many defense lawyers to appeal, as soon as the deliberation was delivered. It is not impossible that the prosecution will appeal in turn, in particular to demand the confiscation of the houses and apartments that this first decision leaves available to other buyers “so as not to infringe their private and family life”.
The former agency head of Vernouillet has been released.
The former branch manager of the Caisse d’Epargne de Vernouillet, too, was impatiently awaiting the deliberation. He was suspected of having been aware that the payslips and tax notices submitted to him by Khalid Mehmood, the secret broker of the Pakistani community in the Paris region, were forgeries. The public prosecutor demanded 18 months in prison against him. During the trial, the banker did not deny that a climate of trust had been established between him and the Pakistani broker, but he vigorously assured that he had not detected the forgeries. The two defense lawyers, Me Caroline Vabre and Me Élise Meine, had spared no effort during the trial to convince the judges that their client was a victim and not a culprit in this case, which seriously burdened the end of their client’s career. The court heard their arguments and released the former head of agency from all charges against him.
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Jacques Joannopoulos
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