2 months with suspended sentence against the former rector of Rouen

Two months in prison suspended and 15,000 euros fine were required Wednesday before the Criminal Court of Rouen against Claudine Schmidt Lainé, former rector of the Academy of Rouen, tried for acts of embezzlement public funds. The decision of the correctional court was reserved on 5 September. The facts go back to 2013-2015, when Mrs. Schmidt Lainé, 63, was practicing at the Rouen Academy. She was then rector of the academy of Grenoble before a presidential decree does not put an end to her functions in March 2018.

The former rector is suspected of having embezzled 18.304 euros while making expenses, unjustified or personal, on the expenses of the Chancery. She had agreed to return 5,673 euros during the investigation, said Pascal Prache, public prosecutor. After the investigations carried out by the regional judicial police department (SRPJ) of Rouen, the former director at the CNRS is particularly blamed for having been reimbursed for journeys by train, on weekends, between Rouen and the department of police. Rhone where is his private home even though she had a home office in Rouen. "Several of these trips did not correspond to any professional meeting," said the president of the tribunal.

They are also accused of several purchases, made with the blue card of the chancery including "hair dye, deodorant for men or even breakfasts and dinners for two people in Paris and whose professional nature is called into question, "said the magistrate. "You relied on your authority to perpetuate a faulty mode of operation," said the prosecutor. "I did not install a system, I found it and obviously it did not bother anyone," defended Claudine Schmidt Lainé, referring to "anecdotal facts."

"I did not know it was unlawfully, I did the same thing at the CNRS, I arrived as a new rector without training and I trusted my teams already in place, "she continued about his disputed travel expenses. According to the president of the court, the former rector was alerted several times to the irregular nature of these expenses.

Alexis Chabert, the lawyer of the former rector, pleaded the regret regretted that we take no not counting the "good faith" of his client. "The prosecution is content with a mbad of evidence to bury the career of Mrs. Schmidt Lainé," he lamented.