It was a question of avoiding a scandal. This time, Emmanuel Macron and Elisabeth Borne have chosen not to support Caroline Cayeux, Minister Delegate for Local Authorities, whose declaration of assets has been judged “undervalued” by the High Authority for the transparency of public life (HATVP), according to the term of the former minister herself. A matter sensitive enough for the two heads of the executive to have asked, without much hesitation, the former mayor of Beauvais to retire from government.
At the end of a long interview with the Prime Minister, Sunday evening November 27, the resignation of the ex-senator once close to François Fillon was recorded. Emmanuel Macron ended, “at his request”, in office, said the Presidency of the Republic in a statement on Monday. His colleague Dominique Faure, Secretary of State in charge of rurality, was instructed to resume his duties.
Most of Caroline Cayeux’s team was only informed of her departure at a cabinet meeting on Monday morning. In a statement released on Twitter, the now ex-minister indicates that the High Authority “continues to doubt [sa] sincerity » and that he has “seemed preferable to resign so as not to hinder the action of the government”. In question, according to several executive sources, the value of a prestigious property in Paris, which she would have received as an inheritance and which would have been undervalued in her declaration of assets. “We are not responsible for what we inherit”defends a collaborator.
“We are not responsible for what we inherit”
The High Authority chose not to communicate before closing the examination of the declarations of assets of the ministers on Tuesday, which must be published Thursday on its website. That of Caroline Cayeux will not appear there. “In accordance with the law, the declarations of a member of the government who has left office can no longer be made public by the High Authority”, specifies the institution. On the other hand, the ex-minister now has two months to file new declarations of interests and end-of-service assets which will be published once their control has been completed, specifies the HATVP.
The fortune of the president of the agglomeration of Beauvais had been worrying those around her for several months. In her declaration of interests, already made public, Caroline Cayeux indicated that she owned 99% of the shares of a company valued at more than 12.2 million euros, as well as an LLC for 234,393 euros.
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