Fabienne Grébert during the 2nd round of the regional elections, 27 June 2021.
A preliminary investigation into the misappropriation of public funds has been opened by the Lyon prosecutor’s office against the environmental group of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
On Wednesday October 19, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and its president (LR) Laurent Wauquiez announced that they would seize the Lyon public prosecutor’s office to denounce “the practices of the Europe Ecology Les Verts group, chaired by Fabienne Grébert, regarding the implementation of its right to training“.
Backlight
The announcement appeared at the time as a nice counterattack in the aftermath of the a controversy over the videoconference of the regional council, six days after the revelations of Mediapart On the 100,000 dinner organized by Laurent Wauquiez with taxpayer money. Ironically, it is environmentalists who are now being investigated for embezzlement of public funds.
Training rights deviated?
Contacted, the Lyon public prosecutor explains that they have opened an investigation”of the accusation of embezzlement of public funds by a public official“, confirming information from the Lyonmag site. For the record, the Region’s report concerned the use of Fabienne Grébert’s training rights. A community report indicated that the EELV group had called the Cédis Formation organization up to 145,000 euros.
Nothing extraordinary so far, political parties are entitled to the formation they use. Except, the regional ecological adviser, Olivier Longeon, was a member of the organization as “Training officer“. Even more surprising, on August 23, 2022, Fabienne Grébert was noticed present at a Cédis training course in Grenoble. However, it was at the same time as the welcoming ceremony of the new prefect of Haute-Savoie in Annecy.
“Search for Truth”
Contacted at the time, the president of the environmental group described how “pitiful” the use of this backlight. And to add: “We have a region that only takes care of the regularity of our actions when it is in conflict.” In a statement sent a few hours later, the political formation assured that it was at the disposal of justice and was ready”provide all the information and all the documents in the search for the truth”.
