Five people were indicted in the case of the “102 gold bars” of the mayor of Puteaux, Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud, suspected in particular of having passed on undeclared funds to his daughter.
The new accusations, made between April and August, target his children, Vincent Franchi and Emilie Franchi, and his son-in-law Vincent Laviec. They also target Didier Ben Sadoun, account manager at the time of the events, and Olivier Ben Sadoun, former sporting director of the municipality of Puteaux.
All are charged with money laundering for tax evasion, some with aggravating circumstances such as the organized gang, sources close to the case told AFP, which the Nanterre prosecutor has confirmed. Emilie Franchi and Vincent Laviec are also suspected of tax evasion.
For Baptiste de Fresse de Monval, lawyer of Mrs. Franchi and of Mr. Laviec, her client “is the victim“and your husband”the turkey stuffing“: Mrs. Ceccaldi-Raynaud’s daughter, “very young“at the time (a 20-year-old) would have only obeyed her family, while her husband would have”he discovered this relationship when he married Emilie Franchi“. Ses customers”they did everything to regularize” the situation.
His son, Vincent Franchi, the current deputy mayor of Puteaux, was indicted in May for money laundering. Denying, this departmental adviser assured AFP that he only had a prosecutor role for this account.
Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud, former deputy and mayor LR, who disputes the facts, has been indicted in this case since December 2020 for money laundering of aggravated tax fraud. She is accused in particular of having transferred undeclared funds to her daughter’s account in Luxembourg, including 102 gold bars worth two million euros at the time and nearly 865,000 euros in cash. According to the mayor, these bars came from an inheritance of the Corsican grandmother.
It was their grandfather, Charles Ceccaldi-Raynaud, former parliamentarian and figure of Puteaux, who died in 2019, who denounced this famous tale to justice in 2008. He was then in conflict with his daughter Joëlle for the town hall.
In 2015 Mediapart revealed that this account, now in the name of Emilie Franchi, had been emptied in 2008. In 2016, an investigation was opened, entrusted to a investigating judge in 2019.
In 2021 Olivier Ben Sadoun, former sports director of the town hall, explained to Mediapart that he had transported part of the bars and that he had witnessed numerous withdrawals of money and their repatriation to France. He was indicted last August. In May 2022, his brother, Didier Ben Sadoun, an account manager, was also indicted. Their lawyer could not be reached.
Sources: AFP
