François Pupponi’s attempts at justification made the president of the Pontoise criminal court smile in October. The former socialist mayor of Sarcelles, sued for “misuse of corporate assets” and “forgery and use of forgery”, had then juggled the bills of restaurants and hotels to explain that all these expenses were indeed related to the SEM Chaleur, the company in charge of the heating of 40,000 Sarcellois, which he chaired at the time.
Justice was hardly convinced: the Modem deputy was sentenced Wednesday to a fine of 5,000 euros for 27,000 euros of abusive spending, between 2004 and 2006, therefore made with the bank card of the public company. Information from Mediapart and Parisian, confirmed this Thursday by AFP.
“Not so serious” facts
At the end of the hearing in October, the prosecution requested a six-month suspended prison sentence and a 20,000 fine. “The court considered that the facts with which I have been accused are not so serious, but I will nevertheless appeal because I completely dispute them”, reacted François Pupponi after his conviction. In its decision, the Pontoise Criminal Court retained the limitation period for the period from January to the end of June 2004.
The current mayor (PS) of Sarcelles, Patrick Haddad, said via a press release that he was “satisfied” that SEM Chaleur, 60% owned by the city, “Be officially recognized as a victim of abuse of social good by Mr. Pupponi at the time when he chaired it”. The socialist mayor also added that “Other troubled elements appear in the past management of this SEM, so that we will continue to use all the legal means at our disposal so that the light is shed and that justice is served until the end”.
François Pupponi began his political career in Sarcelles in the footsteps of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, mayor of the city from 1995 to 1997. After having been his first deputy, the young socialist succeeded him as mayor in 1997. The elected representative also gravitates in the circles of the Socialist Party, before being invested for the legislative elections of 2007, where he will be elected deputy.
During his hearing in October, François Pupponi tried to justify his expenses paid with the bank card of the SEM Chaleur. Thus of this note to the Blue Train, the prestigious restaurant of the Gare de Lyon: “It was a leg. It’s not a star, eh! ” The deputy had defended himself without laughing, also advancing the proximity of the restaurant with the RER line joining Sarcelles, according to the Parisian. And what about this hotel night in Le Mans, in the middle of the PS congress, in 2005? “I had an appointment linked to SEM Chaleur and I charged SEM for every third night.” Explanations that had not really convinced the magistrates, pointing to operations “Extremely opaque”.
Of Corsican origin, François Pupponi was also involved in investigations related to organized crime. According to the world, the deputy was targeted in the 2010s by the investigation into the Wagram gaming circle in Paris, controlled by the Corsican community. “It’s a story to sleep on, Pupponi scolded at the time. It happened to me exceptionally to go to the circle Wagram with the mayor of my village [en Corse] but not to play, I stayed ten minutes. I never sent a message. ” The place, suspected of having been used to embezzle the dirty money of the Sea Breeze gang, was administratively closed in 2011.