Searches were underway this Wednesday, April 3 at Le Havre town hall and at the headquarters of the urban community, as part of an investigation by the national financial prosecutor’s office opened in December 2023 and targeting in particular the former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, a learned AFP from judicial sources close to the case, confirming information of World.
This investigation, entrusted to the anti-corruption office (Oclciff) and the Rouen judicial police, was opened after the filing of a complaint and concerns suspicions of “illegal taking of interests, favoritism, embezzlement of funds public and moral harassment”, specified the judicial source. According to the newspaper, the investigation also targets Edouard Philippe’s assistant in charge of innovation and digital and community advisor of the metropolis, Stéphanie de Bazelaire, as well as the general director of urban community services, Claire-Sophie Tasias.
The world had revealed in September 2023 the filing of a complaint by the former deputy director general of the Le Havre Seine Métropole urban community. This had denounced “a circumvention of the rules for awarding public contracts for the operation of the Digital City of Le Havre”, according to the daily. This collaborator, who wanted to remain anonymous, denounces the fact that the urban community chose the LH French Tech association, led by the deputy mayor Stéphanie de Bazelaire, for the animation and operation of this new building. . A “cumulative function” which would have been the subject of several internal alerts, according to The world.
“Very encouraging for whistleblower status”
LH French Tech was designated for this mission after a call for expressions of interest launched by the urban community in March 2020 and as part of a service of general economic interest (SIEG). The association, the only candidate, was to receive 2.154 million euros in public service compensation from the urban community to carry out the projects, recalls The world.
“The mayor, the elected officials and the teams of the city of Le Havre and the urban community (…) are entirely and calmly at the disposal of the prosecution to provide all the elements necessary for the investigation,” they said. they reacted in a press release sent to AFP. “This is very encouraging for the status of whistleblower and for all public officials who, in the exercise of their functions, including at the highest level, witness facts likely to constitute offenses,” he said. for her part reacted to AFP Christelle Mazza, lawyer for the plaintiff. “They constitute, and this affair demonstrates at this stage, true democratic sentinels,” she added.
Prime Minister during Emmanuel Macron’s first term, between 2017 and 2020, Edouard Philippe resumed his mandate as mayor of Le Havre after his departure from Matignon. In 2021, he created the Horizons party, which is part of the presidential majority. He is expected to be the majority candidate for the 2027 presidential election.