Jean-Luc Boujon (in Lyon)
modified to
11:30 a.m., April 07, 2023
The mayor of Saint-Étienne, mired in a sextape blackmail case compromising his former first deputy, was indicted on Thursday. After forty hours spent in police custody and placement under assisted witness status for embezzlement of public funds, ex-LR Gaël Perdriau tried everything to minimize his role.
New episode in the case of sextape blackmail at the town hall of Saint-Étienne: the mayor, Gaël Perdriau, was indicted and placed under assisted witness status for “embezzlement of public funds by a depositary of authority public”, according to the Lyon prosecutor’s office. In police custody, the mayor continued to proclaim his innocence and repeated several times that he would not resign.
He remains at his post but under judicial control
However, the judges were not convinced by his explanations. Which means that he has serious and concordant evidence against the mayor of Saint-Étienne establishing this blackmail. A mayor also placed under judicial control, which will not prevent him from remaining in his post, explains his lawyer, master Christophe Ingrain.
“He was subject to judicial review but which was decided in such a way by the magistrates that Mr. Perdriau can continue his activity as mayor, that is to say he can go to the town hall and that he can work with his collaborators”, he specifies.
calls for resignation
“He did not participate in any illicit recording of any video or in any embezzlement of public funds,” adds his lawyer. The fact remains that this Friday morning, Gaël Perdriau is a very weakened mayor who risks having to face very quickly very great political pressure and calls for the resignation, like that of the leader of the municipal opposition, the socialist Pierrick Curb.