False testimony : a fine and suspended sentence for professor Michel Aubier

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Published the 06.07.2017 at 12h04

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conflicts of intérêtMichel Aubiertribunal

Professor Michel Aubier, a former head of service of pneumology of the hospital Bichat (Paris), was continued before the 31st criminal chamber of Paris. He was accused of “false witness” during his hearing by the senatorial commission in charge of evaluating the cost of pollution of the air. He had kept a reference to its financial links with Total.

The Pr Sapwood is not presented to the court for the verdict, perhaps wrongly. The conviction has in fact exceeded the requisitions of the public prosecutor, who demanded a fine of 30 000 euros to be taken against the doctor. He is finally condemned to 6 months suspended prison sentence and 50,000 euro fine. And the penalty could have been even more severe : the fines could amount to € 75 000, and the pulmonologist would have been able to spend up to 5 years behind bars.

Sentence proportionate

Evelyne Sire-Marin, the president of the court, said that the sentence was ” proportionate to the gravity of the facts : lie in front of the national representation “. April 16, 2015, before the senate committee, he had declared to have ” no relationship with the economic actors of the sector.

It is on this assertion that he had been sentenced. The Pr Sapwood is, in fact, an employee by the Total group since 1997 as a consulting physician. He is a member of the board of directors of the Foundation Total since 2007. In 2014, its activities within the oil giant have brought in more than eur 170 000. Enough to accuse him of perjury.