The premises of the European Metropolis of Lille (MEL) were raided Thursday in a preliminary investigation by the prosecutor's office following the report made by the French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA), said the prosecutor's office of Lille, confirming information from The Voice of the North . The AFA had made in October a report to the parquet of Lille concerning the expenses of the president of the MEL, Damien Castelain (without label). This report was made under Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which obliges the public authorities to report any crimes or offenses of which they are aware.
10,000 euros of expenses. The AFA initiative, created in 2017 and attached to the Ministry of Justice and the Budget, comes as a preliminary investigation was opened in July for embezzlement of public funds and concealment, after a first complaint against X and a report from the anti-corruption organization Anticor, denouncing the expenses of President Damien Castelain. In an article published on June 15, the Médiacités website argued that Damien Castelain's more than 10,000 euros in spending between January 2017 and May 2018 had "little to do" with his political functions. The site claimed to have peeled "a few hundred bills" - which he produced some extracts - for perfumes, wellness services, nights in Parisian luxury hotel on weekends, among others.
Damien Castelain castigates a "manhunt". Damien Castelain had then lambasted "a remote controlled manhunt" and assured that these figures were "false", speaking for his part of "395 euros per month of entertainment expenses" since his election. At the head of the metropolis since 2014, Damien Castelain is also indicted for "passive trading in influence" and "complicity of favoritism" in the investigation of the award of the Pierre-Mauroy stadium market to Eiffage in 2008. , when he was one of the vice-presidents of the urban community of Lille.