The prosecutor demanded Wednesday two years in prison and five years of ineligibility as well as a fine against the former president of the general council of Bouches-du-Rhône, Jean-Noël Guérini, tried with his brother Alexandre for the rigging of public contracts.

Eight years firm with warrant of committal were notably required against the latter.

"They have made clientelism a mode of governance."

Two years in prison and five years of ineligibility were required Wednesday against Jean-Noël Guérini and eight years with a committal warrant against his brother Alexandre, tried for rigging public markets.

"He acted with characterized dishonesty, used his functions in a personal interest", denounced the prosecutor Étienne Perrin who also demanded a 70,000 euros fine against the former president of the general council of Bouches-du- Rhône, against whom 4 years in prison, including 2 suspended sentences were therefore claimed.

Jean-Noël Guérini suspected of having favored his brother

Faced with "the extent of the offenses, the duration of the acts committed for a decade, the abusive use of the stature of his brother", the magistrate also asked for a 500,000 euros fine against Alexandre Guérini, also threatened with a ban civic and civil rights and a ban on running a business for five years.

The representative of the public prosecution also asked the court to pronounce a ban on the two men from exercising a profession in the field of waste treatment.

The former president of the Bouches-du-Rhône general council is suspected of having favored his brother, an entrepreneur in waste management, to obtain land intended for the expansion of a landfill.

Alexandre Guérini is accused of having used his brother's position to put pressure on elected officials or officials to bypass public procurement procedures, get rich, eliminate competitors or favor relatives.

The prosecutor demanded against the company of Alexandre Guérini, SMA Environnement, a fine of 1.5 million euros, the definitive ban from participating in a public contract and from exercising in the field of waste .

Sentences ranging from one year suspended to two years in prison, one of which is closed, and fines of 15,000 to 100,000 euros have finally been required against the nine other defendants - elected officials, territorial officials, company directors - suspected of having participated to the "Guérini system".

"The drift of a blue boat"

By opening his requisitions and before detailing for a day the ten parts of a very technical file, the second prosecutor of the trial, Patrice Ollivier-Maurel, had denounced "the community of interests" of Guérini intended to "serve political interests "for one and" to reap considerable profits "for the other.

He had also pointed to "the drift of a blue boat", nickname of the general council of Bouches-du-Rhône: he was "barred by a stowaway", he said in reference to the influence of Alexandre Guérini , nicknamed "Mr. Brother", within the departmental administration.

But this "flagship" will end "in Titanic (...) involving in its shipwreck the socialist federation of Bouches-du-Rhône that we thought unsinkable", added the magistrate in reference to the bursting of the local PS after the indictment of its leader Jean-Noël Guérini.

Referring to the reduction of this sprawling file, opened in 2009 and which had 30 components, after eleven years of investigation, the prosecutor considered that "the essential" had been preserved: the highlighting of a "method of governance between clientelism, entryism and affairism which is combined with opportunism, immobility and favoritism ".

"One was a public figure, the other acted in the shadows"

For the magistrate, the two Guérini brothers have made clientelism which "carries the seeds of influence peddling, favoritism and corruption", a "mode of governance".

"Alexandre Guérini was omnipresent in the communities controlled by his brother. One was a public figure, the other acted in the shadows. If Alexandre needed the guarantee of Jean-Noël, Jean-Noël was under the influence of Alexander ", summed up the representative of the prosecution.

Responding to the denials of the two brothers who dispute the facts, the prosecutor highlighted the wiretaps of the file which "shed light on the true face of this case".

"The truth emerges in these moments of spontaneity", he explained, citing as an example "the quasi-pathological relationship" that Alexandre maintained with a high official of the metropolis, Michel Karabadjakian, propelled by his care to the head eight departments, including waste.

"We see through these conversations how you were able to break lives", launched to Alexandre Guérini the prosecutor Perrin denouncing a behavior mixing "tyranny and duplicity". "How could he have such a hold: promote, favor, sanction, grant a subsidy, without the support of his brother? How this man who had no function was able to invite himself to the decision-makers table ? ", asked for his part Patrice Ollivier-Maurel speaking of a" total takeover of the Metropolis ". The trial is scheduled to continue with defense pleadings and is scheduled until April 9.