France: suspected of embezzlement, the former mayor of Marseille, Jean-Claude Gaudin, in police custody

The former mayor of Marseille, Jean-Claude Gaudin, June 24, 2020. AFP - CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU

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Seven months after leaving the town hall of Marseille, which he led for 25 years, Jean-Claude Gaudin, was taken into custody this Wednesday, February 17.

Justice is investigating his possible involvement in embezzlement of public funds.

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The custody of

Jean-Claude Gaudin

, 81, as well as the searches carried out on Tuesday February 16 in his main and secondary residences, come within the framework of a judicial investigation opened in June 2019, which targets the former mayor and several members of his entourage, and deals with the main charges of embezzlement of public funds by a person entrusted with a public service mission and concealment of this offense.

Concretely, the investigations relate to "

the situation of people who continued their activity having exceeded the legal retirement age

", at the time when Jean-Claude Gaudin directed Marseille, specified a

legal 

source to the AFP.

The management of the city by the city councilor Les Républicains (LR) had been strongly criticized, whether in the field of finance, staff or real estate, in a report made at the end of 2019 by the Regional Chamber of Accounts.

The magistrates had also considered that the city had "

knowingly

" violated the rules on pensions, in particular via several retentions in the office of the mayor qualified as "

illegal

".

Practices which are more "

for the less expensive

", underlined the report, pointing out a damage for the Marseilles taxpayers estimated at more than one million euros per year.

(Re) listen: Marseille: the end of the Gaudin era

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