Gaël Perdriau, the LR mayor of Saint-Étienne, will delegate his functions as president to the Métropole, in connection with the sextape blackmail affair which has shaken his city since the end of August, we learned Thursday after one of the vice-presidents of the community. The 50-year-old elected official will not chair the next metropolitan council scheduled for September 29 and will no longer perform his duties of external representation, Christophe Faverjon, the communist mayor of Unieux, told AFP.
A recent intimate video blackmail case
This solution is “the fruit of a collective reflection” in “respect for justice and its rhythm” with the aim of “preserve the metropolis” from the disturbances linked to this recent case of blackmail on intimate video, a-t he explained after a meeting of the vice-presidents of the metropolis. The image of the mayor of Saint-Etienne has been considerably tarnished by a case of political sextape blackmail under judicial investigation in Lyon.
The affair, which is under investigation, broke out at the end of August when a former close friend of the municipality made very detailed confessions to the Mediapart site on a “daub of morals” ordered, according to him, by the mayor and his entourage to neutralize the former centrist first deputy, Gilles Artigues. According to him, the operation was remunerated via fictitious services invoiced to two local cultural associations subsidized by the town hall.
Perdriau had displayed his “determination” to remain in office
Last week, Gaël Perdriau had however displayed his “determination” to remain in office, deaf to the calls of those who asked him to take leave – local and national elected officials, in his camp and in the opposition, but also local economic actors. The city councilor was taken into custody on September 13, along with three other members of the municipal team.
The judicial inquiry, opened in Lyon after a complaint from Gilles Artigues, concerns the production and use of this video shot in January 2015 in which we see this ex-MP known for his Catholic commitment and his homophobic positions, being massaged by a man in a hotel room in Paris.