Deputy Léot-Le-Minister Pierre Morel-L-Minister was targeted on Thursday 20 April by searches as part of an investigation opened in particular of misappropriation of public funds following a complaint by Anticor, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) notes, confirming information from Mediapart. This source said that such searches are underway in Mindy, in particular in the home of the deputy.
An investigation was opened in November 2022 for embezzlement of public funds, breach of trust and concealment of breach of trust, and entrusted to the Economic Crimes Suppression Brigade (BRDE).
sequel after announcement
The Anticore Society had filed a complaint on September 12 against the elected official, who allegedly obtained reimbursement for the fictitious mileage expenses from false supporting documents or through his parliamentary aides.
nickname “The White Knight of the National Assembly”Pierre Morel Lozé, who has always challenged any illegal practice, denounced it to AFP “cruelty” against him. MP for this rural constituency since 2002, and was General Counsel between 1998 and 2015.
Phantom mileage and hidden work
To support its complaint, the association relied in particular on articles and testimonies published among others in Mediapart and “Midi libre”.
Between October 2019 and June 2022, Mediapart reported that Pierre Morel-À-L’Huissier had for several years been compensated for fictitious mileage expenses according to two methods.
sequel after announcement
On the one hand, the MP asked his parliamentary aides to ask the National Assembly to reimburse the fictitious mileage expenses and then pay the amount of the payments in cash. On the other hand, he obtained from the General Council compensation for business trips based on forged supporting documents.
Anticore also quotes testimony in Mediliber of a former collaborator in the practice. “I am not the only one among his aides who had to do this. (…) For me, it was something well established, that everyone, including his employees, was aware of »confirmed this former parliamentary aide.
The rest of the envelope to hire his ex-wife?
Mediapart also discovered that the accounting firm responsible for checking the professional expenses of a deputy minister was hiring his deputy. and that the notary who certified her fees in 2015 was a part-time collaborator.
The elected official would also have used the remaining 30,000 euros from the envelope allocated to the deputies to pay the salaries of their assistants, in order to appoint his ex-wife, instead of paying them to the National Assembly.
“The appropriation of public funds for personal purposes constitutes a serious breach of trust.” And “contributes to the destruction of the bond of trust which must exist, in a representative democracy, between citizens and their political and administrative representatives”regrets in Anticore press release.
