According to information obtained from the Luxembourg public prosecutor’s office, The Snitch specifies that the instruction relates to acts of obstruction/disruption of the freedom of auctions or submissions, taking of interest, forgery, use of forgery, fraud, offenses relating to waste and the environmental code, harassment , illegitimate access to a computer system. According to the weekly, one part is being processed at the Liège labor court, criminal section of Neufchâteau, for acts of violence and harassment, while the other part is being handled at the Luxembourg public prosecutor’s office. A prosecution which, according to the instructions of the investigating judge in charge of the case, has always refused to make any comments.
The spokesperson for the Luxembourg public prosecutor’s office tells us that the investigation does not allow, at this stage, to go in one direction or another, that there are also, at the current stage, no indictments and that the presumption of innocence prevails all the more.
Evacuation of tons of tarmac
The Snitchbased in particular on testimonies, evokes a central issue, namely the evacuation of tons of tarmac following the repair of the N89 between Beaubru and Noirefontaine. Tarmac which was stored in Menuchenet and behind the Bouillon sports hall. According to our colleagues, it is the alderman of works Alain Houthoofdt “q he hasdecreed that the municipality would acquire this tarmac, considering that it was a financial opportunity to be seized”. But this was outside the public procurement rules.
The Snitch evokes a meeting in August 2023 to which the financial director of Bouillon and the head of the city’s works department would have been invited to meet the mayor Patrick Adam, alderman Alain Houthoofdt and the acting general director of Bouillon, Sébastian Pirlot (and also mayor of Chiny). The aim of this meeting would have been to find a solution a posteriori. A stormy meeting during which the two employees repeated that they did not see a legal solution to this problem. A few days later, the financial department was put on sick leave for almost a year.
According to the Quickthe City having been unable to acquire the tarmac legally, it was bought by the brother of the alderman Alain Houthoofdt, who is an entrepreneur.
Contacted, alderman Alain Houthoodft said that there was no intention of fraud or favoritism. “There may have been a lack of information but justice is doing its job and I am sure that it will ultimately say that there is nothing, he tells us. For our part, we are focusing on the campaign and the projects to be carried out.“
Among other elements, the Quick explains that the second search, in July, would have targeted the head of the IT service of the City of Bouillon, who is none other than the mayor’s brother. There is talk of intrusion into the computers of municipal administration staff without their approval. Contacted by us, the latter did not wish to react at this stage.
Harassment reported to the hearing
This legal file is therefore in drawers and includes both a criminal component which gave rise to an investigation and a labor audit component regarding the harassment denounced, according to our information, by several members of municipal staff .
Lawyer Marc Kauten defends one of the staff members. “There is a climate of secrecy in Bouillon, my client is shocked by the harassment she suffers from the mayor and his entourage“, comments the lawyer.
Subsequently, the labor prosecutor could have the possibility of relinquishing its part so that the entire file is managed by the investigating judge.
Patrick Adam: “We worked in the interest of the Commune”
Mayor Patrick Adam repeats that no fault was committed. “Our lawyers systematically confirm to us, after our hearings, that we have not committed any criminal offenses, that there were no unhealthy intentions, that we worked in the interest of the Commune” he reacts.
He also protests the accusations of harassment. “Some people within the administration do not accept that we put the church back in the middle of the village, that we stop giving certain privileges, that we withdraw certain areas of power to which they did not have the righthe continues. We are seeing excess zeal, slowdowns, files that are not handled as we would like in relation to imposed deadlines. And there we are being sued for harassment. It’s serious because that’s not the case. And we go further with a political recovery and a political conspiracy. Now I finally have some of the origin of the complaint. This way of doing things is absurd. I remind you that 20 years ago, Bouillon also experienced this type of problem of slander and defamation, with a tragic end. (Editor’s note: the suicide of mayor Guy Godart). It took three years for the courts to convict (Editor’s note: suspension of the pronouncement, the detractors were found guilty of slander). I undertake to wait the three years and to go to court and to activate all the legal means in my possession“LM
“No smoke without fire”, according to the minority
On the side of the municipal opposition, we repeat, via Marie-Julie Nemery, “not being the basis of the searches and this judicial investigation “. But “that there is no smoke without fire. Nothing is our initiative, but the veil is lifted on what is happening. Voters have the right to be informed and to know what is happening because there was a silence in Bouillon. And regarding Mr. Adam’s complaints, I await them firmly because I am very calm about this“LM
