Bordeaux (AFP)
Jérôme Peyrat, political adviser from the right at the Élysée since last May, resigned from his post in early January for personal reasons, after being the subject of a "preliminary investigation in the context of a dispute in (his ) privacy, "he told AFP on Thursday.
Mr. Peyrat, 57, former adviser to presidents Chirac and Sarkozy and director general of the former UMP, former regional elected representative of Aquitaine and mayor since 1995 of La Roque-Gageac (Dordogne), said that he had resigned on January 6 to the President, who accepted it. Within the political center of the Elysée, he was in particular in charge of relations with local elected officials.
"Following an event in my personal life at the end of December 2019, I am currently under preliminary investigation," said Mr. Peyrat in a statement sent to AFP, confirming information from the SudOuest.fr site.
"In these circumstances, I decided to present my resignation to the Presidency of the Republic on January 6. It was accepted," he continued in the press release, calling on "respect for (his) privacy".
Mr. Peyrat explained to AFP that he "made this decision out of respect for the presidential institution" since he was in his personal capacity "taken in a preliminary investigation" linked to "a dispute in the context of (his ) privacy ", without further details.
He stressed that the procedure had "absolutely nothing to do with (his) professional and political functions".
His resignation, he added, also aims to "be able to take care of the protection of (his) privacy and that of (his) family".
At the origin of the procedure is a dispute with his ex-partner, who had alerted the gendarmes, according to SudOuest.fr. The procedure followed its course and the parquet floor of Bergerac has just divested of the file, with load for the general parquet floor of Bordeaux to disorient the affair.
Mr. Peyrat told AFP that he was a candidate for his re-election as mayor of Laroque-Gageac next March.
© 2020 AFP