Andy Kerbrat used his mandate fees to finance his drug consumption, reveals “Mediapart”

POLITICS – A transparency operation coupled with an exercise in introspection. This Friday, November 15 with Mediapartthe rebellious deputy Andy Kerbrat, arrested at the end of October in the act of purchasing narcotics, recounts his descent into hell, while the investigation site also reveals that the person concerned used the envelope dedicated to money order fees (AFM) to finance his addiction. Endowed with 5,950 euros per month, this envelope is used to cover the various expenses linked to the activity of deputies, in addition to their monthly remuneration set at 7,600 euros gross.

Quoted by Mediapartthe elected LFI admits having “ do anything » from the AFM, recognizing that he was happily draining this envelope to finance his lifestyle, to the point of having put this account in the red, before reimbursement. Although he denies having directly used the AFM to buy drugs, the online media has traced numerous cash withdrawals made by him in the middle of the night, which allow Mediapart to assert that this public money “ has at least compensated for the expenses linked to its consumption ».

“Prisoner”

Hospitalized in psychiatry at his request, Andy Kerbrat hears “ come out of the “secret” in which [il s’était] locked up”, in order to describe the mechanisms that lead to addiction and the consumption of hard drugs. “Before I started using substances, I had a problem with alcohol. It was often because I had been drinking that I took substances”he explains, claiming to have fallen into drugs through the practice of “ chemsex ”, or the consumption of psychoactive substances during sexual relations between gay men.

« Like many gays of my generation, I went from an occasional practice to an addictive practice “, he confides, specifying that over time “ tumbled towards a need to consume”. Throughout his testimony, the elected official claims to have locked himself in a lie, but also in a sort of denial linked to his ability to get out of it. “ The reality was that I thought I could get out of the mess I had gotten myself into on my own, without outside help. The secret was a kind of armor that I put between myself and the world, even if, in the end, I was a prisoner of it. he describes, while his parliamentary work has suffered several times from the effects of his addiction, between notable absences and erratic management of his mandate expenses.

An addiction problem in politics?

Within the LFI group, his addictive relationship with alcohol was known. To the point that he was summoned by the president of the group, Mathilde Panot, on this subject. But without follow-up, due to a lack of effective support systems. Which, according to Andy Kerbrat, is symptomatic of this institution. “Everyone knows that there is a widespread problem of addictions within this Assembly which cuts across all groups,” he says. It's hard to prove him wrong.

In January 2023, it was Renaissance MP Emmanuel Pellerin who admitted to using cocaine. After the Joël Guerriau affair, Renaissance MP Caroline Janvier warned in December 2023 against “ addictive practicess” that she spotted among her counterparts. “ Yes, there are evenings where drugs are circulating, like there are dinners or the end of parliamentary sessions, where there is excessive alcohol consumption “, she testified, before concluding: “ politics produces deviant behavior”.

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