“I did not commit an offense.” A Release, Thierry Solère asserts: his use of mandate fees, this envelope of money allocated by the National Assembly to each deputy, was made “perfectly” in the rules. A response similar to that addressed to Mediapart, which reveals this tuesday that the deputy (LREM) of Hauts-de-Seine is targeted for acts of “embezzlement of public funds by a person holding public authority.” The Nanterre public prosecutor’s office asked the investigating judges, who are already investigating alleged facts of “tax fraud”, to broaden the scope of their investigations in this direction.
The elected official, Emmanuel Macron’s political adviser at the Elysee Palace, is suspected of having embezzled, between 2012 and 2019, nearly 167,000 euros of public money to cover personal expenses. The former spokesperson for François Fillon would have paid, with his mandate fees, school fees for his children, “Family subscriptions” in sports clubs, rents or bonuses for its employees.
“We are in absurdity”
When questioned, Thierry Solère, ensures that this compensation is “Free to use.” Replaced on January 1, 2018 by the advance of office expenses (AFM), the compensation representative of office expenses (IRFM) at the time had the same goal: to ensure the various expenses related to the exercise of the mandate of deputy. . Previously subject to no control, these expenses must now be justified to the ethics officer of the Palais Bourbon and can be the subject of verifications, carried out in the aftermath and randomly.
Regarding his expenses made between 2012 and 2018 – then falling under the IRFM, Thierry Solère assures that he “There is no legal subject. The IRFM is not assessed in terms of law, but in terms of ethics. ” What justify, according to him, various expenses. Like this invoice of 2,500 euros at Ikea. “When you have a permanence, you buy furniture, lamps”, defends the person concerned. Or an invoice for 5,000 euros, paid at “Mangas.” “The investigators believed that I was buying comics for my children. Now it is a costume brand : I bought costumes for 5,000 euros in 5 years. ” And the adviser to the Head of State to conclude: “We are absurd.”
HATVP reporting
In his article, Mediapart also mentions 520 euros in bets à la Française des jeux, 8,489 euros in premiums at Axa or 65,135 euros in transfers and checks to personal accounts. So many expenses akin, for justice, to “embezzlement of public funds.” For his expenses made from 2018, and falling under the advance of mandate expenses (AFM), the deputy says he was checked. “I received the discharge from the ethics officer”, he assures. This did not prevent the investigators from broadening their scope of action, therefore focusing on expenses incurred after his re-election in 2017.
These new facts are part of an investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office, opened following a report from the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP), on October 5, 2018. Born after the Cahuzac affair, the HATVP ensures the transparency of public life, and dissects the declarations of interests and assets of elected officials. In October 2018, she alerted the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office on the situation of 15 parliamentarians, including Thierry Solère, who made irregular use of their mandate fees.
Seven counts of indictment
On October 11, 2019, Thierry Solère was then indicted for “tax evasion”, “embezzlement of public funds by depositary of public authority”, “concealment of violation of professional secrecy”, “passive influence peddling”, “ concealment of abuse of social assets ”,“ concealment of breach of trust ”and“ illicit financing of electoral campaigns ”. A multiple indictment, mixing different cases in which Thierry Solère is suspected of embezzlement: influenced public procurement awards, suspicion of fictitious jobs, “Occult enrichment”, or exchanges of documents with a Minister of Justice concerning ongoing files.
It is within the framework of these investigations that the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office took a supplementary indictment, on December 14, to ask the investigating judges to also investigate alleged facts of “embezzlement of public funds by a person responsible for public authority. ” In January 2021, the prosecution took a new supplementary indictment, to investigate, against X, the concealment of embezzlement of public funds. The investigating judges are thus seeking to determine whether those close to Thierry Solère could have benefited from this money. So many accusations “Highly fanciful” denounced by Emmanuel Macron’s adviser.
The one who left the ship of the right after the first revelations of the Chained duck on François Fillon, close to the former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, has gradually moved closer to the macronie. Until today occupying a role of strategist with the Head of State. A right ear, charged with a mission: to treat the elected officials of his former political camp with a view to 2022. Are the affairs surrounding the elected Hauts-de-Seine embarrassing at the top of the State? “He is a voluntary political advisor”, we just say at the Elysee on Tuesday.
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