Rennes (AFP)
The prefect Nicole Klein, sacked as cabinet director by the minister of ecological transition François de Rugy, accuses the latter of having "wanted to save his head by offering mine", in an interview with Ouest-France.
"He wanted to save his head by offering mine," says the former prefect of the Pays de la Loire. "From Thursday morning, even before the decree ending my duties (...), his chief of staff and his communications advisor removed me from all means of liaison cabinet, Telegram messenger I left. the place (Thursday) at 15:30 without a word more with the minister. "
Ms. Klein was sacked after information from Mediapart concerning a housing HLM in Paris retained from 2006 to 2018 when she no longer lived in the capital.
Asked about the minister 's personality on suspicion of lavish spending, Klein said, "The way he fired me is enough to answer your question and I do not want to say more about it to avoid overwhelming him, like him? did, and continues to do so for me. "
Asked about a dinner with "lobbyists" from the world of energy, organized in March by Mr. Rugy and revealed by Ouest-France, Ms. Klein confirms having been "invited by the Secretary General" to a dinner on the 20th. March, "with Marc Teyssier d'Orfeuil, lobbyist for green vehicles, before being removed from this dinner by François de Rugy".
"As you wrote, he did not want this appointment on the public agenda," she says.
After her departure, Klein said she had the support of the Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Jacqueline Gourault, who "called me to say that she was sorry for the way François de Rugy had fired me".
"I also had the deputy Christian Jacob, Nicolas Hulot phoned me and said he was sorry for what happened, renewing the admiration and gratitude I had to work with me at the time of the evacuation of (the ZAD of) Notre-Dame-des-Landes ", she adds.
Regarding her HLM, she claims to have "sinned by negligence, not by financial interest". "It is true that even though my landlord never asked me to do so, I should have looked for other accommodation in the private park and I obviously admit that I was wrong not to do so", adds -t she
"I've always considered that I was on a business trip the week and that this apartment was home," says the prefect "transferred seven times in twelve years". "Never, contrary to what Mediapart implies, this apartment was a furniture storage and, again contrary to what Mediapart implies, I've always paid rent and paid the housing tax" .
© 2019 AFP