It all started with a complaint from the town hall of Hettange-Grande in March 2015. It denounced, at the time, alleged embezzlement concerning the invoicing of cellars in the communal cemetery. And the municipality directly accused the funeral director Pirus. Several families had been heard. A gendarmerie investigation had been opened.
The company and its manager, Jean-Jacques Pirus, were referred to the Thionville criminal court at the end of November 2018 for fraud, deceptive commercial practice and irregular canvassing with bereaved families. The boss has never ceased to deny any fraudulent maneuver of which he was accused.
The court finally acquitted the manager and the company with regard to the facts of fraud and illegal canvassing. The town hall and two families, made up civil parties, had been dismissed.
On the other hand, the magistrates of Thionville had pronounced 4,000 euros of fine against the funeral directors and 2,000 euros of fine against Jean-Jacques Pirus, condemned for deceptive commercial approach, relating in particular to imprecise estimates. But the case did not end there.
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“Unsubstantiated allegations”
The defense appealed. The Metz correctional appeals chamber agrees in its judgment delivered at the end of September. She releases SARL Pirus and the boss in her own name from all the alleged offenses. The judges do not mince their words to justify it: “The file contains only vague unsubstantiated allegations, the collection of unsupported hearsay”, they motivate. “It is clear that Mr. Pirus’s statements could not be refuted by the investigation. […] It is up to the public prosecutor to demonstrate the guilt of the accused and not to the accused to provide proof of his innocence ”, tackles the Court in its decision.
“This story should have been nipped in the bud,” repeats Me Le Menn-Meyer. She points to an investigation carried out. “My client was heard, summoned, but he was never listened to,” said the lawyer from Thionville.
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” Relief “
Jean-Jacques Pirus today shows his relief. “I’m starting to digest,” he slips. The man, at the head of the family business for twenty years, feels “whitewashed”. “I wanted to restore my honor and the truth,” he explains.
At the time, the case had been publicized and it had had a certain impact. The company established in Cattenom, Hettange-Grande, Thionville and Kédange-sur-Canner has existed since 1933. “Most of the people have continued to trust us. ”
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