Six high school union organizations are in the sights of the General Inspectorate of National Education for poor financial management. One of them, Avenir Lycéen, is already targeted by an investigation by the Paris prosecutor’s office.
A report from the General Inspectorate of National Education, covering 10 years, points to dysfunctions in six trade union organizations. In this report conducted by the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research (IGESR) on six high school associations and two federations of parents, the inspectors point out without naming the union Avenir lycéen.
They thus identify “payments which, without being irregular, however seem incompatible with the object of ministerial funding, such as recreational activities or the services of a specialized company for marketing campaigns”.
Government at the heart of revelations
The report adds that “the mission noted expenses whose regularity is questionable”, such as “meals taken in prestigious establishments in Lyon”, “the usual use of passenger vehicles with drivers”, “payments for aperitifs and alcoholic beverages, in particular in night bars, from an electronic cigarette refill, etc. ”.
The Avenir lycéen union, close to the government, was accused in the fall of 2020, in investigations by Mediapart and Release, as well as by the opposition, for squandering public subsidies and being remotely guided by the Ministry of National Education to support government reforms. For a year, the Paris prosecutor’s office has been investigating suspicions of “misappropriation of public property” in the use of the subsidies granted to this high school organization.
Following these revelations, Jean-Michel Blanquer seized the General Inspectorate in January at the request of the General Directorate of School Education (Dgesco) which wished to see its initial investigation into the use of public subsidies from all the high school organizations that benefit from it.
In detail, “out of the ten payments recorded for a total amount of almost 14,000 euros, only the invoices for the last two purchases concerning two connected watches (1,608 euros) and an iPhone 11 (859 euros) were transmitted. Finally, withdrawals of cash or transfers to personal accounts were made in large numbers for a total amount of 15,437.95 euros without any justification being provided “. For the report, these purchases “are likely to cover up breaches of trust.”
Overall, the 54-page report evokes associations “all marked by significant management deficiencies, with different degrees of seriousness which can go as far as constituting real abuses”.
The report identifies several “dysfunctions of the procedure for awarding grants to associations”, in particular “at the level of the organization and steering of the procedure, in terms of consistency with respect to the displayed criteria, inappropriate management schedule and breach of the transparency obligation “.
In addition to Avenir lycéen, the report notes that an association is for example “unable to meet its financial obligations” and is in default of payments; another was found guilty of “spending flowers, tires, movies or sports clubs, purchasing rights to music or online games, for a total amount of 1,647, 66 euros “. The report states that “the results of the financial controls carried out are devastating”. The inspectors recommend transmitting all the elements to the Paris prosecutor’s office.
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