The president of the Pyrénées-Orientales (PS) departmental council, Hermeline Malherbe, has been indicted for “favoritism, passive corruption, passive influence peddling and illegal taking of interests”, reported on Wednesday June 7 at the Agence France-Presse the prosecutor of Marseille, Dominique Laurens. Ms. Malherbe was placed under judicial control, with a ban on leaving the national territory, said Ms. Laurens.

The indictment is dated May 16. “The information took several weeks to leak”, according to France Bleu Roussillon, which revealed this indictment as part of an investigation into the suspicious award of public contracts. Ms. Malherbe and her husband are notably suspected of having benefited from discounts on work carried out in their homes by companies also working for the HLM office of the department, chaired from 2015 to 2021 by Ms. Malherbe herself.

On her Facebook page, the president of the Departmental Council specified that she had been heard in the context of this investigation by the Interregional Jurisdiction of Marseille (JIRS), which specializes in the fight against organized crime and financial crime.

“This has no impact on my mandate as department president (…) We will do everything we can to shed light. Anxious to let justice do its job, I will not speak on the subject outside of this statement, “she wrote again.