Searches took place at Paris town hall this Tuesday as part of the preliminary investigation into Anne Hidalgo’s trip to Tahiti last October.
What is happening at Paris town hall? According to The world, searches had been underway since Tuesday morning in the premises of the capital’s town hall. Led by investigators from the Economic Crime Repression Brigade and in the presence of the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office, they are carried out as part of the preliminary investigation linked to the trip to Tahiti of Anne Hildalgo and a delegation from the city composed of five employees.
As a reminder, a preliminary investigation was opened last November for “illegal taking of interests and misappropriation of public funds” following the trip to Tahiti of the mayor of Paris. This investigation followed a complaint from the anti-corruption association, AC!, addressed to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Several elected officials from the Paris council and the Ile-de-France region had also made reports following this trip. For a week, the mayor of Paris went to Tahiti and New Caledonia for an official trip and then enjoyed a two-week vacation on a Polynesian island.
It was then attacked on the length of its journey and its carbon footprint. Questions were also raised about a potential mixing of public money from the town hall and private businesses. The AC association! had notably accused Anne Hidalgo of having “took the opportunity to visit his daughter, who lives on an island near Tahiti.” She had officially gone there to deepen relations with the territory and above all to visit the Tahitian surfing site in the run-up to the Olympic Games.
On her return, the capital’s town hall justified itself in a long press release in which the local elected official’s agenda was detailed as well as the cost of this trip. The costs would have amounted to 59,500 euros for transport, accommodation and catering for the Parisian delegation according to the Paris town hall. This Tuesday, while the searches were taking place, the city made a point of specifying in its press release that it had “already voluntarily produced supporting documents relating to the travel of a city delegation to French Polynesia and New Caledonia. This investigation is is continued today by the voluntary submission by the City of the additional documents requested.
Anne Hidalgo affirmed to be “serene and confident about the outcome of these investigations” and ensures that she remains “at the disposal of justice”. Last November, his trips were classified by the ethics commission of the city of Paris as “regular in ethical terms”, the mayor was keen to point out. “The City of Paris did not finance the personal and private activity of the Mayor of Paris with public funds and did not suffer any damage,” the commission clarified.