French billionaire industrialist and senator Serge Dassault has been charged with vote buying in his former fiefdom east of Paris, a judicial source told AFP on Thursday.
Dassault, 89, was in February questioned for two days in connection with allegations that he operated an extensive system of vote buying that influenced the outcome of elections in Corbeil-Essonnes, where he was formerly mayor.
The source said Dassault had been charged with vote buying, complicity in illegal election campaign financing and exceeding campaign spending limits.
He is free without bail pending trial, the source said.
Sources close to Dassault refused to comment.
Dassault has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to prove his innocence, requesting himself that his parliamentary immunity be lifted so he could be questioned in the case.
Investigators suspect Dassault of buying votes that influenced the outcome of three elections in Corbeil in 2008, 2009 and 2010, which were won either by Dassault or by his successor and close associate Jean-Pierre Bechter.
Dassault is ranked by Forbes magazine as France's fourth-richest man and the 69th richest in the world, with an estimated fortune of 13 billion euros ($18 billion).
He heads the Dassault Group, which owns the country's main right-wing newspaper Le Figaro and holds a majority stake in Dassault Aviation which makes business and military aircraft, including the Rafale fighter jet.
French billionaire industrialist and senator Serge Dassault has been charged with vote buying in his former fiefdom east of Paris, a judicial source told AFP on Thursday.
Dassault, 89, was in February questioned for two days in connection with allegations that he operated an extensive system of vote buying that influenced the outcome of elections in Corbeil-Essonnes, where he was formerly mayor.
The source said Dassault had been charged with vote buying, complicity in illegal election campaign financing and exceeding campaign spending limits.
He is free without bail pending trial, the source said.
Sources close to Dassault refused to comment.
Dassault has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to prove his innocence, requesting himself that his parliamentary immunity be lifted so he could be questioned in the case.
Investigators suspect Dassault of buying votes that influenced the outcome of three elections in Corbeil in 2008, 2009 and 2010, which were won either by Dassault or by his successor and close associate Jean-Pierre Bechter.
Dassault is ranked by Forbes magazine as France’s fourth-richest man and the 69th richest in the world, with an estimated fortune of 13 billion euros ($18 billion).
He heads the Dassault Group, which owns the country’s main right-wing newspaper Le Figaro and holds a majority stake in Dassault Aviation which makes business and military aircraft, including the Rafale fighter jet.
