A preliminary investigation opens after his departure. After accusations of collaborators and a report from the administration to justice, the former secretary of state of the Castex government, Nathalie Elimas, is the subject of an investigation for “moral harassment” opened on Thursday, learned Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday March 18. The person concerned says to herself, serene » : “I have no worries, I am even rather satisfied today that there is this investigation, so that the people who testified for the prosecution, some of whom were still members of my cabinet, will be able to testify with their faces unmasked. »
Mme Elimas, in charge of priority education until his departure from the government at the beginning of March, had been the subject of an administrative investigation by the General Inspectorate for Higher Education and Research (IGESR) which had resulted in a report to justice received on March 10 by the Paris prosecutor’s office.
A “dependent” report
The investigation was entrusted to the Brigade for the repression of delinquency against the person. Before opening it, the magistrates of the Paris prosecutor’s office had to first determine whether the facts alleged against the former secretary of state were detached from his function or not. In the second hypothesis, the file would then have been sent to the Court of Justice of the Republic, the only jurisdiction empowered to prosecute and judge the ministers for offenses committed in the exercise of their functions. “I myself had said that the public prosecutor should be seized so that I could defend myself from these very serious accusations in court”commented the former Secretary of State, 48 years old.
Entering the government in July 2020 after being elected in 2017 as a MoDem deputy (presidential majority) for Val-d’Oise, Nathalie Elimas denounced a report by the IGESR on Friday. “totally dependent” and considered that he had not taken into account the exculpatory evidence she had produced during two hearings and in “seventy-five pages of sightings, chronology of events, commentaries, material items and exhibits”.
AFP had revealed in mid-January that Mme Elimas was the subject of an administrative investigation by the IGESR after internal reports of “malfunctions” within his firm relating “in labor relations”. Several sources had mentioned that the Secretary of State was accused of acts of ” harassment “, even of “abuse”, on employees. All preferred to remain anonymous. “I have confidence in the fact that if our administration deems it necessary to go to the criminal level, it is because there are elements for”for his part reacted on Friday, a person who worked in the cabinet of Mme Elimas and accused her of “harassment”.
“Concordant” and “serious” testimonies
At least three sources had also pointed out that the employment within the cabinet of a very close to Mme Elimas, described by one of these sources as “untouchable”, would be one of the aspects of this administrative investigation. Mme Elimas said to himself two days later “victim of a violent attack”.
In mid-February, an internal preliminary report was submitted to Jean Castex. According to two sources interviewed by AFP, the testimonies targeting Mme Elimas were “concordants”, « graves » and “overwhelming”. The Elysée had announced on March 5 that it was leaving the government and a week later, Mme Elimas had announced that he had filed a complaint for “slanderous denunciation”.
“Given the importance of this case, I decided to defend myself and take a first step, by filing a complaint for slanderous denunciation”she said. “For several weeks I have been smeared and slandered in the media, which has taken up accusations that seriously undermine my honor and my dignity”she justified.
Since 2017, many current or past members of Emmanuel Macron’s majority governments have had trouble with the law.
Some have procedures still in place: the Guardian of Seals, Eric Dupond-Moretti, the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, the Minister of Overseas Affairs, Sébastien Lecornu, or the Secretary of State for the Civil Service, Olivier Dussopt.