Paris (AFP)
The former LR candidate for the Paris City Hall, Rachida Dati, told AFP on Wednesday that she had denounced to the courts the advantages that the town hall would have granted to the Unibail group, concessionaire of the Triangle Tower, which according to her , come under "favoritism" or "embezzlement of public funds".
Based on a report from the regional chamber of accounts, the former Minister of Justice added that she sent letters on Thursday denouncing these facts to the Paris prosecutor Rémy Heitz and the financial prosecutor Jean-François Bohnert, confirming information the Parisian and the Canard enchaîné.
"The report of the Court of Auditors is quite clear. I only repeated facts which can be qualified as a criminal matter," Dati told AFP.
The regional chamber of accounts of Ile-de-France estimated in its report that the project of the Triangle Tower had been "inserted in a criticism way within the enclosure of the Exhibition center of the Porte de Versailles", located to the south of the capital.
In addition, to carry out this project, the city of Paris has agreed to compensate the concessionaire of the exhibition center, Viparis (a subsidiary of Unibail-Rodamco), up to 263 million euros "for undemonstrated damage", she also pointed out.
The city admittedly terminated its concession early, but awarded it a new contract allowing it to continue to operate the facilities. This contract was awarded "under partly questionable conditions", also underlines the report.
In addition to short deadlines for submitting bids, given the complexity of the project, the city of Paris asked candidates for an entry fee of 263 million euros. She accepted that Viparis pays this amount by "waiving the compensation for early termination of the concession", while the other candidate had to "self-finance" this entry fee, according to this source.
The city of Paris "has thus deprived itself of a net resource while causing a distortion of competition for the award of the new contract," concludes the Regional Chamber of Accounts.
- "favoritism" -
"The report shows that the realization of the Triangle Tower project did not meet any interest of the city of Paris and that it was programmed to promote the interests of a private legal person, namely the company Unibail" , denounces Rachida Dati in his letters that AFP was able to consult.
"Thus, the Viparis group has been exempted from making the modernization investments programmed under the concession, with the effect of having the concession finance the finalization of the Tower project carried by another company of the same group, which is like a favoritism situation, ”she explains.
"In addition, continues the ex-minister of Nicolas Sarkozy, the city of Paris has agreed to compensate its concessionaire up to 263 million euros for damage which the chamber considers has not been demonstrated."
"The questions of the chamber on the part of the amount corresponding to the profits not received by the concessionaire, ie 152 million euros, have not received any explanation from the city. This could be qualified as embezzlement of public funds" , she estimated.
To be validated, the Triangle Tower project must be voted on by the Council of Paris, but environmentalists, partners of the majority and the right-wing opposition are hostile to the project, underlines Rachida Dati. "If the tower is not built, Ms. Hidalgo will have to explain it because it will again be necessary to pay compensation", she warns.
© 2020 AFP