The Minister of Transport Philippe Tabarot is the target of an investigation for embezzlement of public funds, illegal taking of interests and concealment of both crimes. The 54-year-old man claims to know nothing about this procedure.
The Minister of Transport and former LR senator of the Alpes-Maritimes, Philippe Tabarot, is the target of an investigation for “embezzlement of public funds”, “illegal taking of interests” and “concealment of the two crimes”, according to information from Le Monde. An investigation opened by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office and which follows a report from the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP), on July 29, 2021. It concerns the positions occupied by the current member of the government within of the tourist and cultural public interest group (GIP) and to the communication department of the municipality of Cannet (Alpes-Maritimes), between 2018 and 2020.
“If I had done something, I would not have been chosen to be part of this government”
“A search took place on November 30, 2022 at the home of Mr. Tabarot and in the premises of the Cannet town hall and the Cannet GIP,” specifies a judicial source from the daily Le Parisien. For his part, Philippe Tabarot indicates that he does not have “any information on the content and purpose of the procedure (…) I have in any case never been heard in this context”, he said. he told the newspaper Le Monde.
In a press release addressed to the press, Philippe Tabarot recalls that the case investigated by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office is not new and indicates to Nice Matin that there is “zero news for me, since your previous articles, except “I have since become a Minister.” In front of journalists, this Monday, January 13, the minister affirmed that he had “nothing” to reproach himself for. “I worked effectively with remuneration which is framed in the greatest transparency.”
The minister even put forward a surprising defense argument: “If I had done something so reprehensible, I would not have been chosen to also be part of this government. I am very calm on these questions”, he said. -he continued. Philippe Tabarot is probably unaware that several of Emmanuel Macron’s ministers have already been condemned by the courts (Alain Griset and Jean-Paul Delevoye) and that more than twenty are or have been implicated.
A declaration of 137,872 euros net in 2019
According to information from Le Monde and Philippe Tabarot’s declaration of interests recorded on November 30, 2020, the latter was director of the GIP from April to July 2020 for an amount of 82,473 euros net in 2019. He was then paid 17,997 euros net between August and November 2020 for a position as GIP project manager for the tourist and cultural development of the commune of Cannet.
Also, in 2019, he received the sum of 15,318 euros net as communications manager for the same municipality. Finally, between 2015 and 2021, the current minister pocketed around 40,000 euros net per year as vice-president in charge of transport of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Regional Council. According to Le Monde, Philippe Tabarot declared a total envelope of 137,872 euros net for the year 2019.
A tailor-made position at the GIP du Cannet?
So, was the accumulation of functions and salaries legal? The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) is responsible for shedding light on these questions. Did he benefit from a fictitious job within the GIP? Here too, the PNF asks itself the question. According to the former opposition municipal councilor, Laurent Toulet, he was indeed “in the manoeuvre” of the GIP. “He gave accounts, presented the various reports,” he says in the columns of Le Monde.
Finally, was he able to take advantage of the creation of the GIP to obtain a position with an attractive income? “The temporality is something to give investigators pause. The GIP was created on June 26, 2017 by Michèle Tabarot, just after her re-election to the National Assembly, which would force her to resign from her position as mayor, under the law on the non-cumulation of mandates”, specifies the daily. Only a few months later, Philippe Tabarot gave up his position as chief of staff to take charge of the GIP and a position in communications for the municipality, “with a clear increase in his remuneration”, it is specified.