The Senate inquiry commission responsible for shedding “full light on the operating procedures” of the Marianne fund completed its hearings on Thursday, June 15, after questioning the main players in the case, including the Secretary of State for social and solidarity economy and associative life, Marlène Schiappa. At this stage, no other hearing is planned, the Senate confirmed to Le Monde. The conclusions of the senators are expected before mid-July.
In parallel with the senatorial investigation, the justice system carried out searches at the homes of several protagonists in the case, including that of the resigning prefect Christian Gravel, responsible for managing the fund, and that of the essayist Mohamed Sifaoui, co-responsible for the main beneficiary association, also heard in the Senate.
These searches are part of the judicial investigation opened on May 4 by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) after the revelations of the weekly Marianne (homonym, but unrelated to the offending fund), France Télévisions and Mediapart reporting opaque management of grants awarded under the Marianne fund. The judicial information relates in particular to suspicions of “embezzlement of public funds”, “breach of trust” and “illegal taking of interests”. Summary of the main issues surrounding this case.
“With 2.5 million euros, we can do many things to defend the values ??of the Republic”, declared in April 2021 Marlène Schiappa, then Minister Delegate for Citizenship, launching a public fund intended to finance projects for “promote republican values” and “combat separatist rhetoric”.
Led by the interministerial committee for the prevention of delinquency and radicalization (CIPDR) under the aegis of the minister, the Marianne fund was created six months after the assassination of the teacher Samuel Paty in October 2020 by a young man radicalized.
The purpose of this call for projects was to award grants to structures (associations, schools, cultural establishments, etc.) setting up initiatives “aimed at young people aged 12 to 15 exposed to separatist ideologies” and aimed at “responding to the separatist propaganda and conspiratorial discourse online”.
In total, seventeen structures benefited from 2.02 million euros (out of the 2.5 million planned), including associations such as the League against racism and anti-Semitism (Licra), the Conspiracy Observatory of conspiracy Watch, the Union of Societies for Physical Education and Preparation for Military Service (USEPPM) or the association Rebuild the Common. The latter two received the highest subsidies.
On March 29, 2023, a joint investigation by France Télévisions and Marianne magazine revealed irregularities in the allocation of grants. Rapid designation procedure, opacity around the structures chosen and the amounts allocated, suspicion of favouritism, questionable productions… the investigation was particularly interested in the USEPPM association, and its “iLaïc” program, which obtained the envelope the largest, 355,000 euros.
According to these media, the endowment was mainly used to pay the two leaders of the association, including the essayist Mohamed Sifaoui, up to 120,000 euros net. Part of this public subsidy also financed the rental of an office located in the very chic avenue Montaigne in Paris, reveals Marianne.
Another element brought to light, public money financed a project with an ultimately unconvincing result: thirteen videos on YouTube not exceeding 200 views, an Instagram account followed by 155 people, or even a Facebook account followed by five people. Finally, the survey revealed a close relationship between the association and Christian Gravel, secretary general of the CIPDR.
The Mediapart site reported other irregularities concerning the second best-endowed structure: Rebuild the common (300,000 euros). According to him, this young association created in October 2020 produced, during the 2022 election campaign, political content unfavorable to opponents of President Emmanuel Macron. Among the disparaged political figures was the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, then a socialist presidential candidate.
Another investigation by the site revealed that three collaborators of Ms. Schiappa, including her director of the cabinet, had participated in the selection of the beneficiaries of the Marianne fund and that the minister’s advisers would have encouraged Mohamed Sifaoui to apply even before the official announcement of the project. “It was the members of Marlène Schiappa’s cabinet who insisted that I take part in the citizen response”, assured the person concerned to Mediapart.
Marlène Schiappa provided her first explanations in a press release published on April 7. She rejected any accusation of favoritism and denied her involvement in the choice of the beneficiaries of this fund: “Of all the applications received (…), seventeen were selected by a selection committee. (…) Wrongly asserting that it was an ad hominem decision by Marlène Schiappa is totally false. A surprising statement, according to the magazine Marianne: in June 2022, the minister claimed not to have “proceeded with the selection”, but did not deny her involvement, specifying that “it was the administration that went through the files and proposed breakdowns which my firm and I obviously validated”.
Mohamed Sifaoui also issued a defense statement on April 12 in which he rejects any “cronyism” with Marlène Schiappa and claims to have “absolutely nothing” to blame himself for: “I received a salary (…) in return for a job well and truly done, ”he reacted, announcing that he had filed a complaint for slanderous denunciation.
The family of Samuel Paty expressed their indignation and said they were “particularly shocked” by the revelations of the press, believing that the name of the teacher could “in no case and in no way be the instrument of such acts”.
Christian Gravel announced his resignation on June 6, after the publication of a damning report from the General Administration Inspectorate (IGA). Focusing mainly on the USEPPM, their investigation focused on the choice of the association by the CIPDR, the follow-up of the file carried out by the committee, as well as the use made of the grant granted to the association.
In its conclusions, the IGA deplores a call for projects which “was neither transparent nor fair” and denounces the use of the grant received by the USEPPM which “did not comply with the objectives set” by referring to ” volume and quality of publications” that are “lower than planned production”.
Finally, the IGA regrets a failure in the follow-up carried out by Christian Gravel: “The Secretary General of the CIPDR did not carry out the necessary due diligence for the proper follow-up of the execution of the grant paid to the USEPPM. She finally underlines “a lack of vigilance” and “a privileged treatment reserved for this association” on the part of Mr. Gravel.
The day after the first revelations in the press, the Secretary of State for Citizenship, Sonia Backès, who succeeded Ms. Schiappa, announced that she had contacted the IGA for an audit on the management of the Marianne fund. The Ministry of the Interior made public, on June 6, a first report by the IGA on the USEPPM, which precipitated the resignation of Christian Gravel. A second report from this same inspection, this time focusing on all the associations benefiting from the Marianne fund, is expected at the end of June.
On the judicial level, three reports were transmitted at the beginning of April to the public prosecutor of Paris. Christian Gravel also sent a report to the Paris public prosecutor’s office under Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure – which requires public officials to inform the public prosecutor “without delay” when they acquire “knowledge of a felony or misdemeanor” in the performance of their duties. Just like the leader of the deputies of La France insoumise, Mathilde Panot, who announced on April 14 that she had sent a letter to the public prosecutor of Paris. Directly targeted by content from the association Reconstruire le commun, Anne Hidalgo announced the same day that she had also taken legal action.
Following these reports, the PNF opened a judicial investigation on May 4 for “negligent embezzlement of public funds”, “breach of trust” and “illegal taking of interests”. According to information from Le Monde, it is entrusted to investigators from the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses (OCLCIFF), under the supervision of investigating judge Serge Tournaire.
Searches were carried out on June 13 at the homes of several actors implicated in this case, including Christian Gravel and Mohamed Sifaoui.
On the parliamentary side, a few days after the opening of this judicial investigation, the Senate announced on May 10 the creation of a commission of inquiry, orchestrated by the chairman of the finance commission, Senator Claude Raynal (Socialist Party), whose work began on May 16 with the public hearing of Christian Gravel.
On May 30 and 31, several leaders of associations benefiting from the Marianne fund (Civic Fab, General Fraternity or Conspiracy Watch) were heard, and in particular the leaders of the two best-endowed structures: the president of the USEPPM, Cyril Karunagaran, and the president of Rebuilding the Commons, Ahlam Menouni.
On June 7, the commission of inquiry heard Julien Marion, director of cabinet of Sonia Backès, and the prefect Sébastien Jallet, former director of cabinet of Marlène Schiappa, before the hearing of the two secretaries of State on June 14. Mrs. Schiappa’s was particularly expected. Put in difficulty by the senators, the minister at the origin of the fund said to assume all responsibility for the dysfunctions, while blaming her cabinet and the administration. An unconvincing performance in the eyes of those close to Samuel Paty who denounced “the avoidance maneuvers” in the responses of the Secretary of State.
The hearings concluded on June 15 with Mohamed Sifaoui, beneficiary of the fund’s largest endowment, after two postponed summonses. In front of the senators, the essayist, who confirmed his long-standing closeness with Christian Gravel, considered himself “manipulated by political power”. And to target more particularly Marlène Schiappa: “The first mistake I made was to have trusted Ms. Schiappa, her teams, to have gone for it”. The conclusions of the senators are expected before mid-July.