An increasingly controversial leader. After attracting the wrath of his supporters by supporting Jordan Bardella (RN) for the 2024 legislative elections, Éric Ciotti, the president of the Republicans (LR), finds himself targeted by a new investigation for “embezzlement of public funds” , reveal Le Figaro And franceinfo this Monday, June 17, 2024. This now brings the number of legal and media investigations concerning him to three.
Read also: INTERVIEW. Jean Garrigues: “On June 9, an electoral taboo fell”
The “free parking spaces” affair
This is the most recent case. On May 31, the Nice public prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation for “embezzlement of public funds” targeting Éric Ciotti and several of his close collaborators, in connection with their campaign for the legislative elections in 2022.
The prosecution made this decision after receiving, on April 26, a report from a member of the departmental branch of Anticor, an association fighting corruption in politics. This local referent was himself a candidate in this election in another constituency in the Alpes-Maritimes in 2022.
Read also: Anticor loses its approval: the soap opera around the anti-corruption association summarized in 5 acts
In its report, the association suspects Éric Ciotti and several of his relatives of having benefited from parking spaces, made available free of charge by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at the port of Nice between March 2021 and February 2023. The association asks the AFP in particular whether this process can constitute “illegal financing of an electoral campaign, given that a candidate cannot benefit from financial or in-kind benefits from a company during this period”.
“It’s yet another stink ball, thrown by a competing candidate, who lost the elections in 2022 and who is now corresponding to the Anticor office”, denounced in writing this Monday the campaign director of Eric Ciotti. And to press: “He accused Éric Ciotti of having forgotten to pay for his parking at the port of Nice. It’s ridiculous and pathetic given the stakes. » Éric Ciotti denounced him “obvious political manipulation”.
Read also: Legislative: the video of Éric Ciotti, the left uniting… Story of an epic day
The “social security fraud” affair
This is a media and non-judicial investigation, published by Mediapart on January 16, 2023. In it, the investigative media affirms that Anny Ciotti, the mother of the president of LR paralyzed after a serious stroke, has occupied a place for almost 20 years in a unit of a hospital in the Vésubie valley usually “reserved for short-term care”.
Issue : “Coverage is entirely provided by Social Security” in this service, outside the hospital package, which would have allowed Eric Ciotti’s family to save “more than €526,000”, according to this media. Eric Ciotti’s father, quoted in this article, claimed for his part that he was paying for his mother’s hospitalization.
Éric Ciotti immediately denounced attacks “unworthy”. “It is not me who manages his hospitalization, it is doctors who decided on his situation. I have never intervened with anyone in any way.”defended the one who has always made Social Security fraud one of his main battles.
Read also: Eric Ciotti’s family is accused of taking advantage of Social Security: we explain the case to you
The affair of “his ex-wife’s jobs”
These revelations are in addition to a previous investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF). On November 16, 2022, an article from Chained duck revealed that Caroline Magne, the ex-wife of Éric Ciotti, had held several jobs at the Assembly, in Nice and in the Alpes-Maritimes department, for almost ten years.
The PNF opened a preliminary investigation on November 22, 2022 for embezzlement of public funds, breach of trust and concealment of these offenses. Given as the favorite in the Republican presidential election, Éric Ciotti managed, despite these suspicions, to win the presidency of his party on December 11, 2022.
Read also: Cahuzac, Fillon, Sarkozy… Here are the eight most notable cases of the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office
In his defense, the Nice resident said to himself “basely attacked” and swore that “the jobs had always been fully exercised”. Several LR had defended him, like Olivier Marleix who had criticized the opening of this investigation, denouncing “an exceptional jurisdiction” for his party and a ” Two weights, two measures “.
The deputy Éric Ciotti as well as his ex-wife were then heard by the judicial police in open hearing on December 13 and 20, 2022 as part of the investigation into Caroline Magne’s jobs. The investigation was still continuing at that time.
