The former boss of the Republicans and his former wife Caroline Magne were notably suspected of undue accumulation of public employment.
The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office told AFP on Tuesday that it had closed on Monday the preliminary investigation targeting the former boss of the Republicans Éric Ciotti and his ex-wife Caroline Magne for suspicion of undue accumulation of public employment. The PNF had opened in November 2022, in the middle of the campaign for the presidency of LR, a preliminary investigation for embezzlement of public funds, breach of trust and concealment of these offenses after the publication of articles according to which Eric’s ex-wife Ciotti would have held several jobs between 2008 and 2017 in the Assembly, in Nice and in the Alpes-Maritimes department.
“At the end of the investigations, the offense appeared insufficiently characterized”specified the PNF. “The investigation revealed significant variations in remuneration and work quota and it was not possible to verify the volume of hours actually worked when Ms Magne worked as a full-time parliamentary assistant (between January 2013 and August 2014)”underlined the financial prosecutor’s office.
“It nevertheless emerges from the elements collected in the procedure, in particular from the testimonies, that Ms. Caroline Magne carried out tasks relating to the missions of a parliamentary assistant throughout the period”according to the PNF. “The investigations also confirmed a lack of authorization for accumulation, likely to constitute an administrative breach, but which does not in itself constitute a criminal offense”this source further clarified.
“Very part-time” parliamentary collaborator
Le Canard chainé had indicated that Ms. Magne would have held various jobs with the MP or political allies: press secretary for Christian Estrosi, in 2007 she became parliamentary attaché for Éric Ciotti when he was elected to the Assembly, in addition to a job at the Alpes-Maritimes departmental council where she “expands one’s skills” when her husband took over as president in 2008. The article also revealed that she had become deputy director at Nice town hall before joining the steering team of the urban community, exercising these responsibilities until 2011.
At the Assembly, her contract ended in 2016 but she also, between 2014 and 2016, held responsibilities in the commune of La Colle-sur-Loup, and had a job in the diocese of Nice between 2012 and 2014, according to The Chained Duck. The diocese denied this, assuring AFP that Ms. Magne had “held a job in a Catholic education establishment in the Alpes-Maritimes”. After the publication of this article, Mr. Ciotti explained that he had employed Ms. Magne as a parliamentary collaborator. “very part-time” et “in strict compliance with laws and regulations”. Mr. Ciotti and Ms. Magne were heard in a free hearing in December 2022.
Since then, Mr. Ciotti signed an alliance with the National Rally (RN) in June for the legislative elections, founded a new party in August and left the Les Républicains party at the end of September. The Nice public prosecutor’s office is investigating suspicions of embezzlement of public funds around possible accumulation of jobs at the Alpes-Maritimes departmental council which may have benefited Éric Ciotti.
