Convicted for declaring an address in Monaco while actually living in Beausoleil
The defendant was given a suspended prison sentence and fined €2,500 - © Monaco Tribune
Everything in the hefty case file was pored over: from electricity bills to geolocation of her telephone.
Hoisted by her own petard… When the Ukrainian national filed a complaint against an influential person in the Principality, to do with the highly sought-after “La Crémaillère” property development, she raised suspicions as to her actual place of residence. The man, who is also the adoptive father of the woman’s daughter, stated that they live together in Beausoleil, and not in Monaco, as the woman in her forties claimed.
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An investigation launched
An investigation immediately got under way to find out more about the woman’s residency status. When questioned by the police, she had always stated that she lived in Monaco, and more specifically in the “Le Granada” building on boulevard de Belgique, in the Jardin Exotique district.
Absent from the hearing at Monaco Criminal Court, the company director did not present a defence against the charges. It certainly would have been hard to argue with the evidence unearthed by the investigators, such as the SMEG bills showing electricity (non) use, or the telephone and personal vehicle geolocation history, which showed that overnight parking was near L’Annonciade, on the outskirts of Beausoleil. Doubts began to build and it transpired that the would-be Monegasque resident in fact just had an address in Monaco.
The building’s concierge interviewed
Also in her statement, the woman said that she was separated from the man who had been questioned, but that he still dreamed they would have a life together. “I’ve been living in Monaco since 2020,” she said. But the testimony of the concierge at the residence where she said she lived in Monaco only confirmed the investigators’ theory: the woman had fraudulently obtained a residence permit in order to qualify for welfare benefits.
After deliberating, the court halved the prosecutor’s request for two months’ imprisonment and a €5,000 fine. The defendant, who had no prior criminal record, was given a one-month suspended prison sentence and fined €2,500.