This is a new legal episode for Franck Proust. After the judgment was annulled by the Court of Cassation, the president of the Nîmes metropolitan area is being retried on appeal in Montpellier for influence peddling for the period 2001-2002.
Serious face, dark suit and tie, Franck Proust, former president of the mixed economy company of Nîmes Métropole (Senim) and current president of Nîmes Métropole, arrives at the court accompanied by his parents. The elected official is once again before the courts for a case of influence peddling. An old, very old case that dates back to the early 2000s.
Released for the accusation of favoritism, on appeal in Nîmes after a legal procedure with multiple twists and turns, he was on the other hand found to have been involved in influence peddling. In April 2022, he was sentenced on appeal to 12 months suspended prison sentence, accompanied by a fine of 15,000 euros and five years of ineligibility in the Senim affair. A mixed economy company responsible for the urban development of Nîmes and its surrounding area.
The ruling handed down by the Nîmes Court of Appeal was partly overturned by the Court of Cassation.
The highest judicial court in France had then ruled that appeal judges could only rule on the facts brought before them. The influence peddling uncovered by the investigation allegedly took place between the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002, while the period targeted by the courts was after the end of 2002.
From the start of the hearing and for the same reasons, the attorney general announced that she would request acquittal.
Franck Proust is accused of not having respected the rules in the awarding of public contracts. A case of influence peddling and land sales without calls for tender dating back to 2001 and 2002.
In June 2006, a former director of this organisation wrote to the Nîmes public prosecutor’s office to report “malfunctions” within society. He noted an accounting loss of 793,000 euros for 2004.
An audit carried out subsequently revealed, in addition to accounting malfunctions, irregularities in public procurement and “anomalies” on the transfer of land to the benefit of a single developer, Jean-Luc Colonna d’Istria. The promoter is still being prosecuted today along with Franck Proust for concealment of influence peddling. He is accused of having rented campaign premises in exchange for the advantages supposedly granted by the elected official.
Called the bar, Franck Proust defends himself tooth and nail from all accusations.
I have been suffering from this situation for over 20 years.
Franck ProustBefore the Montpellier Court of Appeal
I have been suffering from this situation for over 20 years. From these rumors of favors and special favors. The only question: did I or did I not commit an act that harmed the city of Nîmes, the metropolis, and Senim? If I had to go back in time, I would do exactly the same thing. I only carried out the decisions of the city of Nîmes. Senim is only the armed wing of the city of Nîmes. The projects date back to 1996. At the time, I was nothing in Senim,” continues Franck Proust who says “never having lifted a finger for Mr Colonna d’Istria, an ordinary developer.”
If I had to go back in time, I would do the exact same thing. I only executed the decisions of the city of Nîmes.
Franck Proust, president of Nîmes MétropoleBefore the Montpellier Court of Appeal
It’s something that broke my life, my career, continues Franck Proust, very moved. What did I do that I shouldn’t have done, I’ve been asking myself this question for 20 years”, insists Franck Proust. It is a case that has caused me a lot of suffering and still causes me a lot of suffering.”
On the stand for more than two hours, Franck Proust will face heavy questions from the president: “Why did you go through this kind of “shell” company for the sale of these plots of land. There is something wrong with your system,” insists the president, who relies on the note from a legal service official sent to the president of Senim. A person who will claim to have been pressured by someone close to Franck Proust to “pass through Colonna d’Istria [ndlr le promoteur prévenu de recel de trafic d’influence]. Colonna who could not be squeezed given his relations with elected officials.” An accusation refuted by the elected official and the person targeted before the investigating judge.
The president drives home the point: “What is questionable is the inertia of the Nîmes town hall, which continues to deal with Colonna d’Istria, who allegedly claimed to have been “titled” (i.e. owner of the land) when this was not the case. Franck Proust repeats it: he was only a transmission belt.
The trial is underway. Franck Proust’s lawyers will plead for acquittal. The judgment should be reserved.
