“How can we do such a thing?” This exclamation of the former deputy Gilles Artigues, then first deputy mayor of Saint-Etienne, takes place in a private setting, that of the home of Samy Kéfi-Jérôme, deputy for Education. The scene takes place on September 18, 2016. In a sordid mise en abyme, the politician is unaware that he is being filmed without his knowledge… in the process of discovering another video filmed without his knowledge, very intimate. “I was confident with you”, is still indignant Gilles Artigues. “It’s called a leash”, retorts Samy Kéfi-Jérôme, when his colleague discovers, in disbelief, the first film shot clandestinely. “In bed with Gilles Artigues” is the title given to this recording.
Seven years later, Samy Kéfi-Jérôme is indicted, in particular for blackmail, concealment and invasion of privacy. The ambush in which he is suspected of having participated resembles a bad script for a Netflix series in the 14th city of France. Because it was becoming politically cumbersome in Saint-Etienne (174,000 inhabitants), it would have been decided to blackmail Gilles Artigues, boss of the local Modem. At the end of a Parisian evening, the former deputy, a married man committed against homosexual marriage, was filmed in the company of an escort boy. But the camera ran out of battery after a few minutes. A first video was made, and it was this one that was shown to Gilles Artigues at Samy Kéfi-Jérôme’s, in the hope that he would explain more about the facts. “The rest is what matters to me,” the Education Assistant announced that evening, once his colleague had broken down. Then he makes several political demands so that the film remains “secret”.
The deputy did not act alone. The mayor of Saint-Etienne, Gaël Perdriau, is also indicted for blackmail, and was heard as an assisted witness on facts of embezzlement of public funds. “Our client was not at all aware of the implementation of the recording and he disputes having wanted to use the information in his exchanges with Gilles Artigues”, let know his lawyers, masters Christophe Ingrain and Jean-Félix Luciani . The city councilor, who clings to his post, was expelled from the Republicans. His then director of cabinet is also being prosecuted. The three men dispute the extent of their participation in the trap. They remain presumed innocent.
A fourth protagonist does not dispute the facts. On the contrary, Gilles Rossary-Lenglet admits to L’Express that he was at the heart of the machination… until he decided to reveal everything to Mediapart, the media that unveiled the case, in August 2022. This former companion of Samy Kéfi-Jérôme, aged 51, is also indicted for complicity in blackmail and concealment. Today he decided to tell his truth about this stink bug. The idea of the conspiracy, the financial counterpart of 50,000 euros, the breach of the pact, the solicitation of Mediapart… This former collaborator of the Modem group at the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional council, who describes himself as a “barbouze” and a “romantic character”, is delivered. His story is disputed by the three other defendants, to the point that part of the file has turned into an anti-Penelope Fillon case: Gilles Rossary-Lenglet assures that he was paid for fictitious services, when his opponents argue that he worked well. The confession of this ex-man in the shadows has at least one merit: it allows us to better understand how political set-ups are born and prosper.
L’Express: Why decide today to reveal to the public the extent of your participation in the plot against Gilles Artigues?
Gilles Rossary-Lenglet: I’m not an angel, I’m not going to do the penitent trick on you. If I decided to reveal everything, first to Mediapart, it is because the Perdriau clan did not keep their word to me: they had promised to offer me a job, – a real job -, if I was in need. They did not respect the contract. I decided to reveal everything also because I felt the hostility of this clan towards me, their desire to get rid of me, that I leave the city. From now on, I also want to do useful work, to tell behind the scenes, because I think I’m the first spook to speak. What we did is not new, it exists elsewhere, but usually people don’t talk because elected officials are respecting their part of the contract.
What role did you play in this trap set for the first deputy?
I am an adventurer, I have known several professional lives, between clairvoyance, the world of casinos, diplomacy, politics… I have already carried out this kind of trickery in the past, in the economic sphere, in particular. I am a professional. When I learned that Gaël Perdriau and his friends were trying to get rid of Gilles Artigues, in the spring of 2014, I offered to take him on video with a man. The duplicity of Gilles Artigues, who had taken anti-marriage positions for all, displeased me. In exchange, I asked for time – six months – and money – 50,000 euros, via false invoices and purchases in kind. Finally, I made them promise to find me a real job when I needed it.
How did you set it up?
I knew that Gilles Artigues wouldn’t do anything in Saint-Etienne, so I waited for him to come to Paris in January 2015, with Samy Kéfi-Jérôme, – we lived together. I looked for an escort boy on a website, to which I said that we wanted to give a present to a friend for his birthday. It cost 300 euros. Then I asked Samy to do the necessary, in his hotel room, with a hidden camera. Except that the camera had no battery after a few minutes. This caused a second video to try to make Gilles Artigues confess.
How did you obtain a counterpart from the town hall of Saint-Etienne?
I was advised to choose friendly associations to which to grant grants of 20,000 euros. These grants were not submitted to the city council and did not go through the assistant for culture, but through the envelope of the mayor. I chose the France-Latvia Loire Auvergne and Artistes de la galerie art pluriel associations. Then I sent false invoices to these associations, which paid me the money.
These two associations ensure that you have worked well for them, that you have brought your network. Its leaders are not being prosecuted at this stage.
I know them, I was able to help them here and there, for example I had to make two apple pies for an event of the France-Latvia association, but that’s all. My invoices were fanciful compared to the reality of the services.
Why did you suddenly decide to leave this blackmail pact?
When my contract with the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional council ended at the end of 2018, I looked for a job. I applied several times for positions at the town hall of Saint-Etienne but I felt that I was being taken for a ride. I had become awkward. I ended up calling Gaël Perdriau, whom I met at the theater, in May 2022. He set me an appointment at the town hall a few days later. There, Pierre Gauttieri, the chief of staff, offered me a position as a majority collaborator on the city council, for 2,500 euros gross per month. But it wasn’t a real job. I was no longer confident with them. If I accepted, I was at their mercy. That’s when I decided to go see Mediapart. I kept several key records and documents. When the police came to search my house, I gave them everything directly on a USB key.
Today, do you plan to continue this type of barbouzeries?
No. I am indicted, I will be condemned. I’m toast, I assume. I thought a lot about this affair, which partly destroyed me, since I am at the RSA, I had to resign from several commitments, such as Freemasonry in the Grand Orient of France, which was extremely important for me. I want to alert the public. Professionals like me exist in the political world, they are recruited by word of mouth, anyone who has been a party activist has heard of it. We could go back to the false attack of the Observatory against François Mitterrand. If we want these kinds of scandals to break out more often, we must legally protect those who reveal them. The Sapin 2 law on whistleblowers, for example, only applies to the economic sector. Why not also protect those who reveal political scandals? It seems necessary to me.
Difficult in your case to claim the protection of the law: you are one of the main masterminds of a blackmail…
Yes, I’m not speaking for myself. I am fully aware of what I have done. But it is not because we are a spook that we cannot be interested in the general interest.