A young couple from Nice have appeared before the Monaco Criminal Court charged with presenting a false work contract to an estate agent in France in order to obtain a flat to rent.

The young man was in employment, but his wife was not. Their situation became more desperate when she became pregnant, but the husband was turned away from several estate agents because his salary on its own was insufficient.

The couple decided to copy and amend the husband’s work contract to suggest that the wife was also employed by a sub-contractor of Monaco Telecom, but when this was checked the ruse was discovered.

While all this happened in France, the case was heard in Monaco because the company is Monegasque. The couple told the court that they had no choice but to do what they did, otherwise they faced living in the street. Subsequently, the husband lost his job.

The prosecuting counsel claimed that the couple’s crime deserved two months jail, suspended, but the court decided to fine them €250 each.

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