The Bayrou government's duty to set an example is already taking a hit. The Minister of Transport Philippe Tabarot is the subject of a preliminary investigation for embezzlement of public funds and illegal taking of interests, following a report from the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP) in July 2021, a declared this Monday, January 13, a judicial source, after an article in Monde on what had already been written Liberation in December. The investigation also targets the concealment of these two offenses. Enough to embarrass the new 54-year-old minister, already challenged by the rail world after his reaction to the suicide of a TGV driver on December 24 or even the putting back on the table of limiting the right to strike.
The investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) concerns the functions held by Philippe Tabarot between 2018 and 2020 for the commune of Cannet: a position within the town's tourist and cultural public interest group (GIP), a second to communication. This town of 40,000 inhabitants in the Alpes-Maritimes was led by her sister, Michèle Tabarot, between 1995 and 2017. The MP is still an important local figure and the head of the municipal majority.
“I have nothing to reproach myself for […] I worked effectively with remuneration which is framed in the greatest transparency, the person concerned defended himself this Monday in front of the press, during a trip to Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport. If I had done something so reprehensible, I would not have been chosen to be part of this government. I am very calm on these questions. He claimed not to have been heard by investigators until now.
137,872 euros of public remuneration in 2019
The National Financial Prosecutor's Office is looking into two aspects in particular: Did Philippe Tabarot take advantage of his position in the municipality to benefit from undue advantages? Were these fictitious jobs? Searches were already carried out in November 2022 at his home, at the town hall of Le Cannet and in the premises of the GIP, according to this same judicial source cited by AFP. “The preliminary investigation is still ongoing”she specifies.
The GIP du Cannet was founded in 2017 to promote the tourist and cultural development of the city and is financed to the tune of 1.7 million euros by the municipality and the tourist office. But, according to The Worldthe structure is in deficit. Its operating income only amounts to 600,000 euros per year, with an operating cost of three million euros per year. “I exercised the full functions of a general director, including a promotional role and a corporate officer stricto sensu,” the minister defended himself to the daily.
According to the declaration of interests registered on November 30, 2020, the minister was director of the Cannet public interest group from April 2018 to July 2020 and received 82,473 euros net for this position in 2019 (nearly 6,900 euros per month). Then he was paid 17,997 euros net between August and November 2020 (nearly 4,500 euros monthly), as project manager of this GIP for the tourist and cultural development of the town of Le Cannet. While also receiving, in 2019, 15,318 euros (1,276 euros per month) as communications manager for this municipality. At the same time, he was elected to the regional council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, and vice-president in charge of transport between 2015 and 2021. Remuneration: around 40,000 euros net per year. He declared, for the year 2019 alone, 137,872 euros net.
These functions at the center of the investigation are not the only ones which connect him to his sister, for which he received tidy remuneration. As detailed Liberation At the end of December, Philippe Tabarot declared, in 2016, that he received 95,000 euros net annually (almost 8,000 per month) as a collaborator at Le Cannet town hall – Michèle Tabarot still worked there – and parliamentary assistant to MP LR.
He abandoned most of his activities at Le Cannet town hall at the end of 2020 to devote himself to the senatorial elections. He still has “wished to retain the promotional part of GIP activities”part-time, in which he says he “particularly invested, as mission manager”. And this for 3,000 euros net per month, or 36,000 euros per year. He also retained his position as regional advisor (he had to resign from the vice-presidency when he entered the Senate) until the end of his mandate, in July 2021.
Updated at 1:05 p.m. with Philippe Tabarot's reaction to the press on January 13.
