The Draguignan public prosecutor’s office announced on Sunday December 10 that it was opening an investigation into the town hall of Fréjus, headed by David Rachline, one of the figures of the National Rally (RN), after the publication of a book questioning its management.
“This is an extension of the book,” declared to Agence France-Presse (AFP) the public prosecutor of Draguignan, Pierre Couttenier, who did not wish to specify the heads of the investigation or whether a or several complaints had been filed after the publication of the work entitled Les Raptors (Les Arènes, 224 pages, 20 euros), written by L’Obs journalist Camille Vigogne Le Coat and published at the beginning of November. According to L’Obs, which quotes the prosecutor, this “preliminary investigation” concerns “cases involving the award of public contracts and cases possibly suggestive of illegal taking of interest and favoritism.”
In her book, Camille Vigogne Le Coat denounces the lifestyle of the far-right elected official, deemed unrelated to his elected compensation and accuses him of arrangements with a powerful local construction contractor for the allocation of public markets, far from the exemplary image that his party claims, and mentions the mayor’s drunken evenings, where racist remarks and anti-Semitic gestures are heard.
“Pretty classic.”
“It is quite standard for the prosecution to open an investigation to find out whether what is stated in this book is true or not. I find that quite natural at the moment,” reacted Marine Le Pen, president of the RN group at the National Assembly, guest of the “Grand Rendez-Vous” Europe1-CNews-Les Echos.
Contacted by AFP, David Rachline, who assured several weeks ago that there was “not one factual element which tends to demonstrate that the procedures are not respected” in the award of public contracts, n could be contacted. For around ten years, he has been running this seaside town of 56,000 inhabitants, established as a showcase for the Lepéniste project.
Aged 36, the elected official has climbed the party ladder at high speed. A municipal councilor at the age of 20, he led the National Youth Front and was Marine Le Pen’s campaign director for the 2017 presidential election. Five years later, the former senator, re-elected at the head of his city from the first round, in 2020, is propelled as second vice-president of the far-right party.
