GIP of the F1 Grand Prix, episode 38. It is the turn of justice to poke its nose into this ultra-sensitive matter, weighed down by a debt reassessed at more than 32 million euros of public money. According to the newspaper Current Values, the Toulon branch of the Marseille public prosecutor’s office, in charge of the case since this summer, opened a judicial investigation and began the hearings. Information which has been confirmed to us.
About ten days ago, Jean-Louis Masson, president of the Var departmental council which is a shareholder of this public interest group, like the South Region, the Nice Metropolis or even that of Toulon, therefore answered the questions investigators specifying that a financial audit was in progress.
Jean-Louis Masson whistleblower
It was he, a month after his election, who was the first to alert about the management of the GIP of the French Grand Prix and the “abysmal debt” left after five years of promotion and supervision of the organization of the Formula 1 stage at Le Castellet.
He also sent multiple letters to the president of this GIP, Christian Estrosi, to prevent any dissolution before obtaining documented explanations on the deficit, originally estimated at 27.4 million euros. As well as “numerous irregularities” raised, concerning governance, public procurement, staff effectiveness or even suspicious travel and restaurant costs.
The advanced millions
For his part, the president of the South Region Renaud Muselier put his hand in his pocket by signing an advance of 11 million euros to pay companies awaiting payment. Along the same lines, Christian Estrosi, boss of the Nice Metropolis, passed a budget of more than 5 million euros in July. Which made the elected opposition EELV Jean-Christophe Picard tick: he therefore referred the matter to the Toulon prosecutor, giving a judicial twist to the case.
“This missive mentions a certain number of serious anomalies relating to the use of public money. Some being likely to be qualified under criminal law, I would be grateful to you to give this matter the follow-up that you deem necessary and to keep me informed”, wrote this former boss of Anticor, the association fighting corruption in politics, to the courts. He was obviously heard.
Documents submitted to justice
Affirming “play the game of transparency”, the entourage of Christian Estrosi and that of Renaud Muselier indicated on Wednesday, day of presentation of the financial audit to all public shareholders, transmit the report from the expertise firms Sémaphores and Fidal to the public prosecutor. While specifying that it was “the mountain that gave birth to a mouse” and attaching 30 pages of responses from Eric Boulier, general director of the GIP of the French Grand Prix.
Enough to anticipate the investigators’ expectations, while regaining control over communication? “We could ask ourselves questions, but it has no connection”, says someone close to Muselier. He swears not to have been aware of the opening of a judicial investigation before the publication of the paper. Current ValuesThursday morning: “We simply wanted to respond to organized suspicions of fraudulent acts.” To be continued.
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