2023-05-31 17:33:33
After the sponsor – Prefect Christian Gravel, Secretary General of the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization (CIPDR) –, it was Tuesday May 30 and Wednesday May 31 the turn of the beneficiaries of the Marianne fund, set up following the terrorist assassination of Samuel Paty in 2020, to explain themselves to the Senate commission of inquiry around the use of this manna of 2.5 million euros.
Several journalistic investigations revealed that the attribution as the use of this money by some beneficiary associations presented serious irregularities. An administrative investigation, as well as a judicial investigation for “embezzlement of public funds”, “breach of trust” and “illegal taking of interest” were launched following these revelations.
The first associations heard on Tuesday, Civic Fab, General Fraternity or the Observatory of Conspiracy, whose work has been recognized for years, had been able to detail the use they had made of the fund without difficulty. For the two structures auditioned Wednesday by the senators, the exercise proved to be more difficult. The Union of Physical Education and Military Preparation Societies (USEPPM) and Rebuild the Common are however, with 355,000 and 330,000 euros respectively, the two largest beneficiaries of the fund.
“My first grant application”
The main leader of the first, Mohamed Sifaoui, was not present before the senators “for health reasons”. It was therefore the president of the USEPPM, Cyril Karunagaran, who defended the sudden motivation of this structure, born in 1885, to launch into the “republican counter-discourse”, following a proposal from the “Marlène Schiappa’s cabinet”, at the time minister responsible for citizenship, who a asked Mr. Sifaoui to launch a response initiative on social networks. “An ambitious project that required considerable resources”explains Mr. Karunagaran.
The file is put together in a few days, which leads to ” errors “, he acknowledges. Starting with an overly ambitious budget – the association, which until now had an annual budget of around 50,000 euros, is asking the CIPDR for 1.5 million euros over three years – which must be readjusted after a first refusal . This is my first grant application. justifies Mr. Karunagaran, who comes from the business world. In addition, the association had to find other financial partners in order to receive the funds. “We had discussions”assures its president, but none has resulted. “How can you start a project without being sure of having the planned sums? », asks the chairman of the finance commission, Claude Raynal (Socialist Party).
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