2023-07-14 17:22:00
On March 6, the President of the Walloon Parliament André Frédéric and the 6 Walloon deputies who make up the new Bureau of the assembly had done their utmost to keep secret the meeting place with Frédéric Janssens, the suspended clerk of the Parliament of Wallonia . A blow for nothing: summoned that day for a hearing before the management body he knows so well, he had not presented himself, any more than his lawyers.
But this Friday morning, he responded to the Bureau’s invitation, accompanied by his two counsel, for a 7-hour hearing.
An obviously very fit clerk, determined to respond to “29 Office grievances“. Which he did, adding on leaving Parliament around 4:30 p.m. that he had also tabled a hundred documents.
Moreover, the words of his two lawyers seem to indicate that the hour of the counter-offensive has come.
“Breach”
Frédéric Janssens had 10 months to go over his files. It has indeed been suspended since September 15, 2022.
His line of defense was already widely exposed on March 24, during an interview on the set of LN24: on the accusations of moral harassment, suspicions on public contracts, on the death threat or the trip to Dubai, the man claimed to be innocent all the way. He made the same speech this Friday, live in front of the press or via his lawyers, repeating that it is in reality his desire to reform the services which would have triggered a kind of mutiny at the registry.
Another constant: his employer, namely the Walloon Parliament and particularly its management body (the Bureau) was, according to him, informed of each of his decisions.
This time, according to our colleagues from Belga, lawyers Me Dimitri de Beco and Me Pierre Joassart are taking a step further: they say they have identified procedural problems “adults” in the head of President André Frédéric (PS).
Both counsel question his impartiality. By considering that the return of Frédéric Janssens to the registry of the Parliament was impossible, the president of the assembly would not have respected the principle of the presumption of innocence. A “breach” into which the defense might rush?
Sanction
In addition, on the day of the missed meeting with the clerk on March 6, the Bureau had taken the decision to cut by 20% the salary that Frédéric Janssens was still receiving full pot and to eliminate the benefits in kind from which he still benefited ( car, PC, etc.), while extending his preventive suspension for 6 months.
Decisions that his lawyers also question, according to a formula already heard several times since September: the Office cannot pronounce a disciplinary sanction as long as the criminal procedure is in progress.
This is what had also decided the former Bureau to initiate the initial suspension as a “measure of order”, taking care not to set in motion a sanction process at this stage. The current Bureau, which makes no comment on the episode of the day, has also shown itself to be cautious as Sioux so as not to be accused of going off the rails, precisely. The words of the clerk’s lawyers will certainly not encourage them to change course.
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