It’s a story that has agitated the small town of Canteleu (located in Seine-Maritime) for several years, and which has just resulted in a decision that is, to say the least, unexpected: through a press release published on Wednesday January 21, 2024, the socialist mayor Mélanie Boulanger, at the head of the Normandy commune since 2014, announced her resignation. A decision for “health reasons”which occurs some time after the announcement of his referral to the Bobigny criminal court and which was, according to the words of his lawyer to France Blue Normandy February 21, 2024 “difficult to take”. A resignation which, according to him, is not “neither a failure, nor an admission of anything, but a withdrawal for health reasons which are totally legitimate and respectable”.
A story that begins in 2019
For her part, in her press release, Mélanie Boulanger speaks of an accusation which “smears and (…) causes pain” : “The announcement – on January 12 – of my referral to a criminal court (…) inflicted on me a decompensation that was as unexpected as it was worrying. Since then, it has been a fight for my health that I have had to fight (…) This medical fight is the only one that is not compatible with the heavy responsibilities of mayor, and that is why I am forced to give it up.”. But what is this matter that weighs so heavily on the health of the mayor of Canteleu? To understand everything, we have to go back to 2019. At that time, a major operation takes place in Seine-Saint-Denis, to stop drug trafficking : among those arrested, a man, surprisingly linked to an influential Canteleu family, which seems to control local politics. A judicial investigation is then opened to “drug trafficking and criminal conspiracy” and is subsequently led by a judge from Bobigny.
Facts that have always been denied
A few years later, in October 2021, new twist in the case: Mélanie Boulanger and her assistant are placed in police custody. The reason ? An anti-narcotics crackdown. It must be said that she is, according to the prosecution, suspected of having helped this traffic “by providing information to traffickers about police checks, by warning them of the installation of video surveillance cameras or by delaying their installation, by asking the police to avoid checks in certain sectors”. His deputy, also taken into custody and in charge of economic development, is suspected of having given essential information to traffickers, in particular about police checks, and of having made his company vehicle available to them. However, both were released the next day. In January 2024, this story takes yet another turn. Despite her protests regarding her involvement, and even though she has always denied the facts, Mayor Mélanie Boulanger, as well as her deputy and 17 other people, are referred to the criminal court. To date, no date has been announced for the trial.