Grenoble: an investigation opened against the mayor, Eric Piolle, accused of illicit payment to an elected official

An investigation was opened Wednesday against the environmentalist mayor of Grenoble following an article in Le Canard Enchaîné which accuses him of having organized a budgetary sleight of hand to unduly pay 16,800 euros to his former first deputy, the Prosecutor’s Office said.

The investigation for “concussion”, – an offense punishable by 5 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 euros – and “concealment of this offense” targets the mayor Eric Piolle, his former deputy now LFI deputy Elisa Martin, and a intermediary, said prosecutor Eric Vaillant.

16,800 euros received in cash

Asked by AFP, neither Grenoble town hall nor Elisa Martin reacted immediately. The satirical newspaper, in its Wednesday edition, claims that a former collaborator of Eric Piolle benefited from a salary increase of 600 euros in December 2016 but was asked to give 400 euros back to Elisa Martin for the help make ends meet.

According to the newspaper, this “scheme” aimed to compensate for the end of her mandate as regional councilor and the reduction of a quarter in the compensation of municipal elected officials, under the rules set by the municipality. In total, she would have received 16,800 euros in cash, not declared to the tax authorities. These payments would have ended when Elisa Martin was elected MP in the spring of 2022.

“If the facts are proven, they are extremely serious”

According to Le Canard Enchaîné, the bank statements of the former collaborator, who left the town hall in the summer of 2022, show that he “methodically” withdrew 400 euros in cash each month. He also allegedly had a bailiff attest to conversations carried out via encrypted messaging.

“If the facts are proven, they are extremely serious,” reacted on Twitter the opponent Emilie Chalas, who lost her seat as deputy to Elisa Martin and was head of the République en Marche list in the 2020 municipal election in Grenoble. Former mayor Alain Carignon, himself convicted of corruption, also denounced facts of “exceptional gravity” which, according to him, “definitely break the trust of Grenoble residents.