The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, announced on Friday April 14 that she intended to alert the public prosecutor following revelations about the use of subsidies allocated to the “Marianne fund” against separatism, in a letter to the first minister, Elisabeth Borne.
“Several videos, which deliberately discredit elected officials of the Republic, would be financed by the Marianne fund. I am one of these elected officials, ”notes the elected socialist. “The facts related, if proven, are extremely serious”, because “likely to characterize the criminal offense of embezzlement of public funds, but also other offenses”, writes the mayor of Paris in a letter addressed Thursday to Matignon, which she then published on Twitter.
Opaque management of the Marianne fund
A joint investigation by the weekly Marianne and France 2 broadcast at the end of March describes opaque management of this fund, launched in 2021 by Marlène Schiappa, then Minister Delegate for Citizenship, after the assassination of teacher Samuel Paty .
According to the investigation, the association which would be the main beneficiary, the Union of Physical Education and Military Preparation Societies (USEPPM), would have used it for a website and publications on social networks very little followed, and also to pay two of its ex-leaders. The State Secretariat for Citizenship announced on March 29 that it had asked the General Inspectorate of Administration (IGA) for an audit on this file.
In addition, several left-wing personalities, including Ms. Hidalgo, have been attacked in content from the association Rebuild the common, which, according to more recent revelations from Mediapart, “has received more than 300,000 euros in public money, while that it was newly created and had no known activity”.
“State Scandal”
The leader of the La France Insoumise (LFI) deputies, Mathilde Panot, also announced that she had sent a letter to the Paris public prosecutor, still under article 40 of the code of criminal procedure, qualifying the case of “state scandal”.
“The facts are serious and question the responsibility of Marlène Schiappa in the creation, use and control of these public funds”, according to her, who adds that these are “serious breaches of probity” and “electoral context”.
Reacting to the latest revelations from Mediapart, the National Rally (RN) deputies asked on Thursday for the creation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry on the subject. “These accusations are very serious and raise questions about the role of Marlène Schiappa in this case when she claimed in June 2022 to have personally validated, with her cabinet, the choice of beneficiaries and the breakdown of subsidies”, estimated the RN group on Thursday in a press release.
“Talking about misappropriation of objects or campaign financing is false and misleading”, reacted to Agence France-Presse (AFP) the cabinet of Marlène Schiappa.
The Paris prosecutor’s office announced on Wednesday that a report, under article 40 of the code of criminal procedure, of Christian Gravel, president of the interministerial committee for the prevention of delinquency and radicalization (CIPDR), was in progress. analysis before a decision on a possible opening of an investigation.
Part of the family of Samuel Paty, professor of history and geography beheaded on October 16, 2020 by an Islamist, said they were “particularly shocked” in early April after the publication of the first investigations relating to the fund created following of the teacher’s murder.
