The entourage of the president of the Île-de-France region deplores a “slanderous denunciation”.
A preliminary investigation was opened on Monday for embezzlement of public funds in the context of the presidential campaign of LR candidate Valérie Pécresse after a report by Julien Bayou (EELV), the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday, confirming information from BFMTV.
The report of the resigning national secretary of EELV, sent to the public prosecutor’s office on April 19 and of which AFP was aware, also targeted the offenses of illegal financing of electoral campaigns, illegal financing of political parties, misuse of corporate assets and/or taking illegal interest. The investigations were entrusted to the brigade for the repression of economic crime (BRDE), said the Paris prosecutor’s office.
“Method of slanderous denunciation”
At Figarothose around Valérie Pécresse say they are not “aware of this procedure» and assures that «all the rules have been scrupulously respected“. Before adding:The Greens still use the same method of slanderous denunciation. We trust justice.A supporter of the unfortunate ex-candidate for the presidency adds:Bayou is experimenting with slanderous methods at his expense.»
“Ms. Pécresse instructed my firm to prepare a complaint for slanderous denunciation“, told AFP the lawyer Thibault de Montbrial. “Unfortunately, this is not the first time that environmentalists have used this kind of method in their fight against the majority in Île-de-France.“Added the advice of the elected LR.
“Arrangements” according to Julien Bayou
In this report, Julien Bayou relies in particular on the resignation of the regional councilor Babette de Rozières from the campaign team and from all the commissions because of “disagreements she expressed with regard to the presidential campaign of Valérie Pécressealso president of the Ile-de-France region.
In the resignation letter dated March 8, Ms. de Rozières “explains acting in the interest of Valérie Pécresse” by adding : “but the mix of genres between the President of the Region and the presidential candidate seems complete“. She also advancesthe alleged lack of interest of the candidate for the Overseas Territories as well as the level of the campaign“, According to this description.
Read alsoGuillaume Tabard: “Valérie Pécresse, both convalescent and resilient”
Julien Bayou also mentions an interview with Mme de Rozières at Outre-Mer news in which she denounces “arrangements in the Ile-de-France region“with the regional elected Patrick Karam accused of”clientelist practices“, accusations which would deserve, according to him, “to be clarified or invalidated“.
This report also refers to “the contribution on her working time of an agent, the chief of staff of the president of the region, to the development of the program of the presidential campaign of the right“. Under the “settling of scores which are to be analyzed against the backdrop of the presidential campaign and the appointment to the legislative elections“, Mr. Bayou, former national secretary of EELV, nevertheless believes that the “charges are extremely serious“.
Read alsoPresidential 2022: Pécresse, “personally indebted to the tune of 5 million euros”, calls for donations
Mr. Bayou, who resigned from his post on Monday because of accusations of psychological violence, which he denies, on a former companion, also wonders about the Salon de la Gastronomie des Outre-Mer et de la Francophonie, founded by Babette de Rozières and described as “money pumpby Patrick Karam.
LR candidate Valérie Pécresse spent 14.3 million euros for a single round of voting, but without reaching the 5% mark which would have allowed her to obtain reimbursement of her campaign expenses. After her defeat, she had launched a call for donations to fill a hole of five million euros.
SEE ALSO – On Twitter, Valérie Pécresse thanks her donors “from the bottom of the heart»