The decision of the Liège Court of Appeal fell on Friday: the acts of corruption charged against the former deputy mayor of Sérése were declared established, and not time-barred, despite their seniority. The aggravating circumstance of having used his power to influence the award of the contract was not retained. The charges of forgery and use of forgery and money laundering have also been ruled out. As well as a charge of fraud, which, in the thesis of the general prosecutor’s office, would have consisted in collecting a bribe without intervening with the decision-makers.
The sentence is a suspended sentence of twelve months in prison, together with a fine.
On first case, Alain Mathot had been cleared of the main charges, with the exception of renovation work, undeclared, in his house, a case unrelated to the market for household waste incinerators in the Liège conurbation. Defense attorneys last month reiterated their demand for an acquittal. Their arguments obviously failed, this time, to convince the magistrates.
The conviction of their client is accompanied by a confiscation of the amount retained as bribes, not far from three quarters of a million, and five years of deprivation of his civil rights. Which settles (definitively?) the question of a possible return to politics, assuming that the person concerned intended to do so.