Paris (AFP)

Did François de Rugy break the rules by paying part of his contributions to EELV with his allowance for expenses in 2013 and 2014? In the gray zone, the use of this allowance was not controlled.

The latest revelations Tuesday Mediapart on these two payments, for a total of 9,200 euros, seem to have precipitated the resignation of the minister.

Close to the elected member of the Loire-Atlantique, the MP Barbara Pompili pinned the "lightness" of his colleague, yet champion of morality.

Member of Parliament at the time, François de Rugy received 5,373 euros monthly net of IRFM (compensation representative of expenses of mandate), which was added to his remuneration, as for senators.

The IRFM was intended to cover the costs inherent in the mandate: tenancy of a permanence, displacements, correspondence ...

But it was for some parliamentarians "a complementary income", "in the pocket", according to Charles de Courson (former UDI), even though it was not subject to income tax.

It has been the subject of regular controversy over its use for personal purposes, for gifts or trips in particular.

The Assembly Ethics Officer in 2013 noted a "lack of rules on the use of the IRFM", "left to the discretion of the parliamentarian".

His successor ranked in June 2015 "among legally prohibited expenses, those contributing to the financing of an election campaign". And "among the ethical expenses not recommended", he quoted the purchase of a parliamentary permanence coming to increase the inheritance of the deputy, or the payment of contributions to a party, "especially if these payments give place to a reduction of tax or a tax deduction ".

It is the additional reproach addressed by Mediapart to François de Rugy: he would have deducted his payments to the ecologist party from the calculation of his tax for 2015.

While some tolerance seemed to prevail in the Assembly against relatively common practices, instructions had been given outside the Palais Bourbon.

In a response to a deputy LR, the Budget Minister had pointed out in 2013 that "the allowances of office or representative of expenses of mandate" can not "open right to tax reduction". The National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing had also hammered it.

The mandate fee system has since been reformed. Assembly then Senate enacted in 2015 a list - very general - authorized and prohibited expenses (acquisition of real estate, contributions to parties ...). The deputies had to certify on the honor of the good use.

A stricter regime - for deputies and senators - has been set by the "trust" laws of the summer of 2017. The IRFM has been transformed into an "advance" of court fees of a monthly amount of 5,373 euros, of which 600 euros can be spent without supporting documents.

The control by the current ethics officer of the Assembly has just been launched: the 2018 fees of 144 deputies drawn will be screened.

Last December, the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP) forwarded to the National Public Prosecutor's Office the files of 15 parliamentarians from the previous mandate for misuse of the IRFM (transfers to a personal savings account, payment tax, contribution to a party ...), for sums of 20 to 80,000 euros. According to Le Monde, the former boss of PS Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, in particular, would have paid his dues to the party.

The HATVP limited its investigations to the post-2015 period.

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