Agnès Saal will avoid a public trial by pleading guilty to charges of embezzling public funds during her terms at the Centre Pompidou and the Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (INA), Le Point reports. Saal, who is now seen to be representative of the issue surrounding senior civil-servants’ abuse of funds, was brought to court following the discovery last year that she had spent €40,000 (including €6,700 by her son) over the 10 months of her directorship of the INA and €38,000 in just over a year on taxis. At the request of the Minister of Culture, Saal resigned from her position at the INA in April 2015, and was banned from the civil service for 6 months without pay. The level of sentencing has not yet been confirmed.
1 April 2016.
