This is a complaint that could thwart the plans of the possible candidate for the 2027 presidential election. The former Prime Minister and mayor (Horizons) of Le Havre Édouard Philippe is the target of a complaint, in particular for favoritism, in connection with an ociation responsible for the animation of the city’s Digital City, we learned on Friday from concordant sources, confirming information from the world.
The complaint was filed Thursday for favoritism, illegal taking of interests, embezzlement and misappropriation of property and moral harment, said Me Christelle Mazza, lawyer for the former deputy general director of the Le Havre Seine Métropole urban community (Seine-Maritime). The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office confirmed having received this complaint. When asked, Édouard Philippe’s entourage did not react on Friday afternoon.
Also referred to in the document are the deputy mayor in charge of innovation and digital technology, Stéphanie de Bazelaire, and the general director of urban community services, Claire-Sophie Tasias. In a declaration on behalf of “its president (Édouard Philippe), its DGS (Claire-Sophie Tasias) and its community advisor” (Stéphanie de Bazelaire), the urban community of Le Havre ured that these three elected officials were “not informed » of this complaint. “If this procedure were proven, they would obviously and with complete peace of mind be at the disposal of the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office to ert their rights,” added the text, without “further comments.”
Conflict of interest
In July 2020, Édouard Philippe, president of the urban community, signed with Stéphanie de Bazelaire, this time as volunteer president of the LH French Tech ociation, a multi-year agreement of objectives for the operation and animation of the Digital City of Le Havre. Lawyers from the urban community have issued recommendations and alerts on the conflict of interest situation in which Stéphanie de Bazelaire found herself, according to Le Monde.
LH French Tech, created in July 2020, 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 ociation, the only candidate, was to receive 2.154 million euros in public service compensation from the urban community to carry out the projects, recalls Le Monde.
“We can wonder about the choice of such a legal arrangement when the president of the urban community is himself a state councilor experienced in public procurement,” reacted Mr. Mazza. Her client had, in the exercise of her duties, reported in September 2022 in a note addressed to Édouard Philippe the accumulation of functions of the digital istant, the budgetary situation of the LH French Tech ociation and “the serious legal risks » that the latter be placed in judicial liquidation, both for the community and for the ociation, according to Le Monde.
After this note, the complainant said she was sidelined and morally hared. His three-year contract was not renewed. She has since found a position in the central administration and in March submitted a file to the Defender of Rights to obtain whistleblower status, said her lawyer.