The head of the department of the operational support department (SDSO) of the Seine-Maritime national police, is the target of an administrative investigation by the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), reveals to you France Blue Normandy this Monday. She is suspected of having employs employees of its technical department, a support service in particular responsible for real estate, from June 2022 to April 2024, in its house located in a housing estate in Saint-Aubin-lès-Elbeuf, in the Rouen agglomeration. They say they did everything inside, from floor to ceiling, and also carried out exterior work, such as laying the fence and creating slabs.
“We did the plumbing, the electricity, the tiling… Everything, there was nothing in the house except the walls and the placo,” reported to France Blue one of these agents. These civil servants and contract workers accuse their director of having them paid in cash. When they were paid… Because, according to them, she still owes them nearly 10,000 euros. “I took cash and went to get the materials at the DIY store,” testifies another agent on fixed-term contract. It even happened that the officials took this director's dog out to make it do its business.
Career developments at stake
All these tasks were done during their working hours, most of the time. In exchange, according to the people met, she promised them career advancement. “My department head made me believe that I could reach the higher rank and that she would support me to reward me for my work”indicated one of these agents.
France Bleu Normandie has the report of the professional interview of one of these civil servants, dating from April 2024, in which this director is full of praise for her subordinate: “An excellent professional who deserves to be recognized for his true worth by being promoted to the rank of controller.” During our investigation, we compiled several testimonials, text messages, videos and photos which support these accusations.
Bonuses for his son
But these are not the only allegations made against this director still in post within the national police. In explanatory reports addressed to Nicolas Bouferguene, the interdepartmental director of the national police (DIPN), SDSO agents explain that this director ordered them to pay part of their end-of-year bonus to his son, just hired in this department, at the end of 2023.
According to these documents, his son notably received a bonus called CIA, for Annual Compensation Supplement. This is a bonus paid normally exclusively for civil servants. So so that his son and two other contractual agents of the service could benefit from it, the defendant inflated the bonuses of the holders to the maximum, up to 1,000 euros, again according to these documents. They were then ordered to pay the sum of 500 euros in cash to the contract agents, including his son. “I received by transfer the sum of 500 euros from a titular agent, while I do not have the right to receive money from this bonus”, one of the SDSO employees told France Bleu Normandie.
Karim Bennacer, departmental secretary of the Alliance union, asks “let all light be shed on this matter” : “It's scandalous. We're asking police officers and rank-and-file civil servants to set an example and here, this department head would have made a serious mistake.”
The accused denies
The lawyer for this head of department, Maître Laura Kalfon, refutes these serious allegations: “My client formally denies these accusations and will not respond on the merits given the duty of confidentiality conferred on her by her status. An administrative investigation, not a judicial one, is in progress. She collaborates with the investigating authority in order to establish the truth. As a reminder, my client has no decision-making power regarding the promotion of members of her department. Finally, it reserves the right to file a complaint for slanderous denunciation.”
The General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) opened an administrative investigation in July. The police continued their hearings in Rouen on November 7, 2024. The management of the national police refused to respond to requests from France Blue Normandy. The public prosecutor of Rouen, Sébastien Gallois, indicates that “concerning the alleged embezzlement of public funds, at this stage, no judicial investigation is underway.”
