the owner-lawyer-politician at the helm – Libération

Xavier Cachard, dismissed for “subjecting vulnerable people to unworthy accommodation conditions”, was heard by the Marseille criminal court this Wednesday, November 20.

The president of the Marseille criminal court puts on his “court police” hat: “Can we be calmer? Questions are answered calmly. We’ve been operating like this for ten days, we’re not going to change our operations with you.” He is addressing Xavier Cachard who, this Wednesday, November 20 afternoon, after less than an hour of hearing at the bar, has just sent back to the ropes a lawyer for the civil parties who asked him a question. The imposing sixty-year-old wears several hats in this trial: he is the owner of an apartment on the second floor of 65, rue d'Aubagne, the collapse of which caused the death of eight people on November 5, 2018. At least is he the majority shareholder (97%) of a family real estate company, Soyorem, through which he acquired the property for 32,000 euros in 2011. But the lawyer by profession was also, at the time of the facts, the advisor of the Liautard firm, trustee of the building, also mandated for the management of his apartment.

At the time, he was vice-president of the Paca regional council in charge of finances, close to ex-LR Renaud Muselier. Following the collapses, he lost his delegation and did not return after 2021. Just after the tragedy,