A week after leaving the government, Nathalie Elimas is fighting back. The former Secretary of State in charge of Priority Education, accused of harassment by several ex-collaborators and who is the subject of a report to justice, announced this Saturday that she had filed a complaint for “slanderous denunciation”.
“Given the importance of this case, I decided to defend myself and take a first step, by filing a complaint for slanderous denunciation,” she said in an SMS to AFP. “For several weeks now, I have been smeared and slandered in the media, which has taken up accusations that seriously undermine my honor and my dignity,” she explained. The complaint was filed Friday afternoon at the Enghien-les-Bains police station (in Val-d’Oise).
According to Mediapartthe General Inspectorate for Higher Education and Research (IGESR) sent a report to the Paris prosecutor’s office concerning Nathalie Elimas, received on Thursday and currently “under analysis”.
“Serious” and “overwhelming” testimonies
AFP revealed in mid-January that the then Secretary of State for Priority Education was the subject of an administrative investigation by the IGESR after internal reports of “dysfunctions” within her cabinet. relating to “labour relations”. Several sources had told AFP that Nathalie Elimas was accused of acts of “harassment”, even “abuse”, on collaborators. All preferred to remain anonymous. At least three sources had also pointed out that the employment within the cabinet of a very close friend of Nathalie Elimas, described by one of these sources as “untouchable”, would be one of the aspects of this administrative investigation.
The former secretary of state said he was “victim of a very violent attack” two days later, before leaving the government on March 5. In mid-February, an internal pre-report was submitted to Jean Castex. According to two sources interviewed by AFP, the testimonies targeting Nathalie Elimas were “concordant”, but also “serious” and “overwhelming”.