Fellow members to decide Tapie’s fate

Date: 07/12/1995

By Fiona McHugh

BERNARD Tapie, the French MEP found guilty of match-rigging last month, may go to jail if colleagues in the European Parliament decide to lift his immunity.

Tapie was sentenced to two years in prison and fined 20,000 French francs for fixing a match between two football teams, Valenciennes and Marseille, in May 1993.

But that penalty will come to nothing if MEPs refuse to strip the ex-minister of his parliamentary immunity, granted to him when he was elected.

France has already asked the Parliament to allow it to enforce the judgement, but as yet has received no reply.

According to Florus Wijsenbeek, the rapporteur dealing with the request, Tapie must first appear before the parliamentary rules committee in a closed meeting to be held in January. The committee, taking into account evidence provided by the French government as well as Tapie's testimony, will then propose a course of action to its colleagues.

The full Parliament will decide Tapie's fate in a vote due to be held in March.

“This is less to do with Tapie than with the institution itself. What we have to decide is what effect a positive decision would have on the Parliament, and whether we should restrict waivers of immunity to members accused of political crimes,” said Wijsenbeek.

The immunity rule which allows members of Parliament to escape the rule of law has come in for a great deal of criticism over the years. But Wijsenbeek staunchly defends members' rights to be treated differently. “We have to obey our own internal rules. We do not need outside justice. One should be brought to justice by one's peers,” he said.

Tapie's office refused to be drawn on the likely outcome of the parliamentary vote in March.

The ex-Marseille chairman was found guilty of bribing Valencienne players to lose a decisive game in the run up to the European Cup final.

While he admitted to the crime during the trial, Tapie suggested after the verdict was announced that the penalty was out of proportion to the crime.

This is the second request for a lifting of immunity to have been submitted to the Parliament since June.

The other, against Elena Marinucci, was found to be inadmissable and sent back to the Italian parliament.