the mayor of Puteaux indicted

The mayor (LR) of Puteaux, Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud, was indicted on Wednesday for laundering aggravated tax fraud. She is suspected of having emptied an account in Luxembourg to transmit it to her daughter.

After several years of investigations, Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud, mayor (LR) of Puteaux in Hauts-de-Seine, was indicted for aggravated tax fraud laundering on Wednesday 2 December 2020. She was placed in police custody Monday, she was placed under judicial supervision.

The case dates back to 2008. The mayor of Puteaux is said to have emptied an undeclared account in Luxembourg by withdrawing 102 gold bars, the equivalent of 2 million euros at that time, and 865,000 euros in cash. Mediapart revealed these movements in September 2015, which triggered an investigation by the Nanterre prosecutor’s office nine months later.

Ms. Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud first denied holding this account and these bars. When questioned by an investigating judge in the context of another case, in 2015 she finally admitted the existence of the Luxembourg account and having transferred the funds to her children.

Faced with this indictment, she replies to have “confidence in justice” and explains that she will be able to have access to the file, which she “waited a long time”, she tells Defense-92. “I will be able to defend my innocence, exactly as in the district heating case in La Défense where I was dismissed”, she continued.

“Better late than never”

An indictment that does not surprise Vincent Dubail, EELV municipal councilor. “Better late than never. Justice is finally taking the trouble to indict it. The facts go back to the old term of office. Christophe Grébert (former elected opposition member, editor’s note) had already denounced it for a long time”.

A late indictment according to the elected, especially as it takes place after the municipal elections where the mayor was reelected in the first round. “Of course, when a person does not show probity when it is the duty of an elected official who is at the service of the citizen, that plays on the ballot. From there to make a consequent change in the final vote, I do not know”, continues Mr. Dubail who cites the example of Levallois where Patrick Balkany has been re-elected many times.

The story of a family conflict

Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud’s setbacks with justice began in 2005 after her father was denounced. In a long survey republished by Mediapart, the authors claim that Charles Ceccaldi-Raynaud, former mayor of Puteaux from 1969 to 2004, wanted to return to his chair as mayor in place of his daughter. But the latter would have refused.

Charles Ceccaldi-Raynaud (died in 2019 at the age of 94), then indicted and suspected of having received 750,000 euros on the sidelines of a heating market in La Défense, accused his daughter of having received money and denounced this account in Luxembourg. According to this article, Ms. Ceccaldi-Raynaud hid “for fourteen years up to 3.8 million euros on undeclared accounts”.

Regarding the origin of these funds, the mayor of Puteaux assures that this is a legacy passed on by her Corsican grandmother. She is said to have received these sums from her father-in-law, Minister of the Republic in the late nineteenth century.

When contacted, Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud did not respond to our requests.

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