The alert had been given by five of his former collaborators. The deputy of Hérault Coralie Dubost, deputy president of the group La République en Marche (LRM) in the National Assembly, was pinned for the expensive use of her advances of mandate expenses and her human management of certain collaborators, according to a survey published Friday, April 29 by Mediapart.
The facts related in this investigation, which it disputes, are listed in the report of a human resources firm sent in the spring of 2021 to the ethics officer of the National Assembly, following reports from former collaborators. They accuse him of having imposed on them “personal tasks”words and behaviors “depreciating”, but also a “value conflict” or ” ethics ” in particular on the use of its advances for mandate expenses.
Lingerie purchases, “cash advances”
It is particularly a question of “monthly clothing expenses within a range of 1,500 to 2,000 euros” or “very high restaurant costs”, sets out the report. According to MediapartMme Dubost, for example, spent up to 3,300 euros on clothing and accessories in October 2018, “on online sales sites such as Private Sale, Trends Square or Private Showroom. (…) The next, the bill reached 2,500 euros, especially with brands like Sézane or The Kooples,” specifies the online media.
Asked by Mediapartshe replied that she had made these purchases as part of her mandate: “I don’t put the same things in my personal life and in my office life”. Contacted by Agence France-Presse, the MP did not respond immediately.
In 2018, Coralie Dubost also “used more than 500 euros of public money in lingerie brands (Princesse tam.tam, Darjeeling)”, relates the online media. Purchases justified by the MP by explaining that it was“cash advances, when you need something at the last minute and you don’t have your personal card with you”.
Mme Dubost, who, like every deputy, has an advance on monthly mandate expenses of 5,373 euros, to which is added his elected remuneration, declared to Mediapart having reimbursed expenses deemed unrelated to the exercise of the mandate of deputy – and this after a control by the ethics officer of the National Assembly for the years 2018 and 2019.
“Inappropriate requests” to its collaborators
The HR firm’s report also mentions “inappropriate requests”as “the regular and frequent performance of (…) tasks “ unrelated to the work of a parliamentary collaborator – personal purchases for the elected representative, the supervision of household staff or the performance of domestic tasks. Mme Dubost disputed these allegations. They also list requests related to his “personal purchases, bring them back or have them delivered”. “That could have happened. [mais] there was no instruction from me, it was presented as a service”justified Coralie Dubost to Mediapart.
The money order advance replaced the controversial IRFM, an envelope which was not controlled and gave rise to excesses, from the purchase of televisions to the payment of holidays, for example. At least fifteen parliamentarians or former parliamentarians were the subject of preliminary investigations for possible illicit uses of their mandate expenses envelope between 2012 and 2017. Among them are the centrist senator from Marne Yves Détraigne, the former deputy of Paris and ex-boss of the Socialist Party (PS) Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, as well as the deputy of Hauts-de-Seine and adviser to Emmanuel Macron Thierry Solère, already prosecuted in particular for “tax evasion”. The latter was thus indicted in February for “embezzlement of public funds”pour “passive influence peddling” and for breaches of reporting obligations to the High Authority for the transparency of public life. The elected official is notably suspected of having dipped into his mandate costs to pay fines, running costs or even subscriptions to organizations.