2023-11-27 06:30:05
The Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, in Paris on October 16, 2023. MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP
Will Emmanuel Macron be forced to force two of his main ministers to resign for legal reasons in the coming weeks? Two days before the deliberations of the Court of Justice of the Republic, Wednesday November 29, as part of the trial of the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, for “illegal taking of interests”, another minister in office must appear for an alleged offense of breach of integrity. From Monday 27 to Thursday 30 November, Olivier Dussopt, Minister of Labor, Full Employment and Integration, will be tried for “favoritism” by the 32nd chamber of the Paris criminal court.
After more than two years of preliminary investigation, he is being prosecuted by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) for having, in 2009, while he was mayor (Socialist Party) of his native commune of Annonay (Ardèche), “obtained or attempted to procure an unjustified advantage”, to the general director of the Urban and Rural Development Company (Saur), Olivier Brousse, before a call for tenders relating to a public contract for the exploitation of drinking water.
Particularly discreet before his trial, Mr. Dussopt, 45 years old, is summoned to appear in the company of Mr. Brousse, prosecuted for “complicity in favoritism by instigation”, and Saur, the third water operator in France, judged to be legal entity for “concealment of favoritism”.
The minister’s office informed the Monde what “the latter is at work and devotes himself to his task”. Mr. Dussopt will play his place in the government during his trial. Contacted, the office of the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, recalled the “general principle which applies in the event of conviction” : any minister convicted by the courts must leave the government.
During the previous five-year term, Alain Griset, Minister for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, had to resign, in December 2021, after his sentence at first instance to six months in prison for “incomplete or false declaration of his financial situation and his interests “.
Read also (2021): Article reserved for our subscribers In an “untenable” situation after his conviction, Alain Griset gives way to Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne in the government
Custom market
It’s an old story that has caused the Minister of Labor to appear before the criminal court. In May 2020, Mediapart revealed that Mr. Dussopt was offered, in January 2017, while he was deputy mayor of Annonay, two lithographs by the painter Gérard Garouste by a local leader of Saur. This gift was made a few days after the councilor announced an industrial partnership with Saur for the installation of a hydroelectric microturbine in Annonay. A market which will be the subject of an agreement initialed in June 2017.
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