Accused of having falsified wills between 2013 and 2017 for damage estimated at several hundred thousand euros, a notary from Lubersac (Corrèze) has been appearing before the assizes since Monday May 2.
Implicated for forgery in public writing and embezzlement in inheritance proceedings, the public officer could receive a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison during his trial, which began Monday for a period of two weeks.
He is being prosecuted for having bequeathed the property of a deceased to an unknown person in 2014 despite the testimony of the victim’s cousin indicating that the latter wished to pass on her inheritance to cancer research and to the Lubersac school.
In 2015, he did it again by granting the same beneficiary the inheritance of an estate when the latter was unknown to the victim’s family, according to Capital magazine. The offending notary was also accused of falsifications related to heritage invoices and embezzlement of life insurance contracts.
Three accomplices implicated
Opened in the fall of 2015, the judicial investigation demonstrated close ties between the notary and the beneficiary of the inheritances. The investigation also revealed the existence of a third accomplice and led to the arrest of the three suspects in April 2017.
During their hearings earlier this week, each of the two men rejected the guilt on the other, one pleading the influence of his partner and the other the threats of disclosure launched by his acolyte.
The city of Lubersac, the Foundation for Medical Research, the Interdepartmental Chamber of Notaries, the families of the victims and the two notaries associated with the main suspect at the time of the events have chosen to bring civil action in this case.