The end of 2024 was, to say the least, turbulent within the parents' association (Apel) of the Sainte-Catherine institution. And the organization of the Christmas tree has nothing to do with it… The new office, elected in November, in fact filed a complaint against unexplained in the association's accounts.
According to our information, certain suspicious movements took place in July and August, when the association is dormant. Also, the sums committed would have made it possible to pay invoices unrelated to the purpose of Apel, whose operation is essentially based on contributions paid by families at the start of the school year.
To raise additional funds, in order to make the students' education as pleasant as possible, volunteers increase their numbers throughout the school year, organizing numerous activities. “The association's balance is good, but it should be much higher,” indicates one of the members, specifying that the facts covered by the complaint would extend over several years. Suspicions of fraud concern a total amount of around 25,000 euros.
An election in two stages
“It is several thousand euros out of an operating budget of 15 to 20,000 euros,” summarizes Pierre Silva, president of Udapel 47. At the general assembly, the members requested on various occasions the accounting balance sheet that they could never get. Even the treasurer did not have the delegation over the bank accounts…”
For more than six years, the Apel office was chaired by Cathy Lévêque, delegated municipal councilor who became, during the mandate and changes in the composition of the team, deputy mayor in charge of town planning, employment, training, relations with businesses and the Saint-Cyr project. Following the election of Gérard Régnier to the position of president of the CAGV, she also joined the team of vice-presidents of the Agglomeration.
The Apel de Sainte-Catherine preferred to file a complaint against
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In October, during the annual renewal of the office, and while Cathy Lévêque was a candidate for his succession, it was ultimately another list, led by Cindy Margot (1), which was elected. The result is disputed; he was confirmed during the second vote in November. Cathy Lévêque is forced to hand over control to the new president who, in fact, has access to the accounts and then notes unjustified outflows of money: “The Apel de Sainte-Catherine, after having taken advice from us, preferred file a complaint against The president of the departmental federation also wishes to emphasize that these torments, within the parents' association, “have no link with the school establishment, whose accounts are completely separate. »
Received by the mayor
President at the time of the facts and therefore criminally responsible, Cathy Lévêque rejects, according to our information, guilt. She did not respond to our requests. If, at this stage of the investigation, carried out outside Villeneuvois, the elected official benefits from the presumption of innocence, this situation, although without a direct link, inevitably reflects on the municipality. Cathy Lévêque has already been received at least twice by the mayor, Gérard Régnier.
Elected officials, like many people in the bastide, are seeking to gather more information. The majority, faced with the affair which led to the withdrawal of the majority of Xavier Mars, in 2024, finds itself in a delicate situation, a little over a year before the municipal elections. Should she remove Cathy Lévêque from her ranks, even though she denies having committed fraud, or should she await the conclusions of the investigation and strictly respect the presumption of innocence?
The answer could be given during the next meeting of the municipal council scheduled for Monday, January 27, at 6 p.m. The deputy mayor is in fact scheduled to act as rapporteur on two files on the agenda.
(1) She, like Cathy Lévêque, did not wish to react.
