François Grosdidier, mayor of Metz, sentenced to six months suspended for “illegal taking of interests”

by time news

The mayor of Metz, François Grosdidier (ex-Les Républicains), was found guilty of “illegal taking of interests”, Tuesday, February 7, by the correctional court of Epinal and sentenced to six months suspended imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 euros.

Mr. Grosdidier, elected mayor in 2020, was prosecuted for having paid in 2011, when he was a deputy, a subsidy of 160,000 euros with the funds from his parliamentary reserve to the association Valeurs Ecologie, which he had chaired since 2009 At the hearing, at the beginning of January, he assured that he had the feeling at the time of “to favor a cause which seemed to him to be of general interest rather than his personal interest”. In addition, the analysis of the association’s accounts had not revealed any movement of funds favoring it. Mr. Grosdidier had denounced “permanent judicial harassment”targeting a former political adversary, Philippe Mousnier, at the origin of this affair.

The former treasurer of the Values ​​Ecology association, Marie-Louise Kuntz, was also sentenced for concealment of this illegal taking of interests, to two months suspended imprisonment, as well as a fine of 2,000 euros. . The court found that Mr. Grosdidier “had a manifest interest in the granting of the grant to an association of which he was president” you what Mme Kuntz “was aware of the fraudulent origin of the funds”.

Cleared of “the slanderous accusation of embezzlement of public property”

“This judgment definitely clears me of the slanderous accusation of embezzlement of public property”reacted François Grosdidier in a press release, announcing his desire to appeal. “It was essential for me, proving my probity to those who had trusted me. Ineligibility is dismissed when it was the real goal pursued by my accusers and political opponents”he added.

An investigating judge issued a dismissal order in 2016, confirmed on appeal in 2017 by the Metz investigating chamber. But the anti-corruption association Anticor then lodged an appeal in cassation and the Court of Cassation quashed the dismissal in June 2018, referring the case to the Nancy investigating chamber. Mr. Grosdidier was then indicted in February 2021 and returned to corrections in August 2021. He will have to pay 1,000 euros in damages to Anticor, his former treasurer 500 euros. François Grosdidier had previously been mayor of the neighboring town of Woippy, from 2001 to 2017, and deputy of the 1re constituency of Moselle from 1993 to 2011.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Municipal elections: in Metz, the legacy of the outgoing mayor at the risk of dispersion

The World with AFP

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