#Édouard #Philippe #targeted #preliminary #investigation #National #Financial #Prosecutors #Office #searches #progress
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 1 hour ago, Updated 41 minutes ago
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Searches were underway this Wednesday at Le Havre town hall and at the headquarters of the urban community as part of an investigation opened for “illegal taking of interests, embezzlement of public funds, favoritism and moral harassment”.
Searches were underway this Wednesday, April 3 at Le Havre town hall and at the headquarters of the urban community, as part of an investigation by the national financial prosecutor’s office opened in December 2023 and aimed in particular former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, we learned from judicial sources close to the case. The investigation was opened in December 2023 after filing a complaint of the former deputy director general of the urban community and concerns suspicions of “illegal taking of interests, favoritism, embezzlement of public funds and moral harassment”specified the judicial source, confirming information from the Monde .
The complaint, filed in September 2023, targets the mayor Horizons of Le Havre and possible candidate for the 2027 presidential election, the deputy mayor in charge of innovation and digital Stéphanie de Bazelaire and the general director of urban community services Claire- Sophie Tasias. “The mayor, the elected officials and the teams of the city of Le Havre and the urban community (…) are entirely and calmly at the disposal of the prosecution to provide all the elements necessary for the investigation”they reacted in a press release sent to AFP.
An association at the heart of the investigation
The investigation, entrusted to the anti-corruption office (Oclciff) and the Rouen judicial police, focuses on a mission entrusted to an association responsible for running the city’s Digital City. In July 2020, Edouard Philippe, president of the urban community, signed with Stéphanie de Bazelaire, this time as volunteer president of the LH French Tech association, a multi-year agreement of objectives for the operation and animation of the Digital City. Lawyers from the urban community issued recommendations and alerts on the conflict of interest situation in which Stéphanie de Bazelaire found herself, according to The world.
LH French Tech, created in July 2020, was designated for this mission after a call for expressions of interest launched by the urban community in March 2020 and as part of a service of general economic interest (SIEG). The association, the only candidate, was to receive 2.154 million euros in public service compensation from the urban community to carry out the projects, recalls The world. “This is very encouraging for the status of whistleblower and for all public officials who, in the exercise of their functions, including at the highest level, witness facts likely to constitute offenses”for her part reacted to AFP Christelle Mazza, lawyer for the plaintiff. “They constitute, and this affair demonstrates at this stage, true democratic sentinels”she added.
