Paris (AFP)
Paris prosecutor Rémy Heitz opened a criminal investigation on Sunday after the broadcast of a report by M6 on luxury clandestine dinners organized in Paris, in which ministers could have participated according to the claims of an anonymous source on the show.
The public prosecutor today "seized the Brigade for the repression of personal delinquency (BRDP) of the Paris judicial police with an investigation of the heads of endangerment of others and of covert work", indicated the Paris prosecutor's office, requested by AFP.
"Its objective will be to verify whether the evenings were organized in disregard of health rules and to determine who were the possible organizers and participants", the same source said.
In a report broadcast Friday evening on M6, an anonymous source maintains that ministers, not named, participated in luxury clandestine dinners in the capital, in defiance of the bans enacted to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The Paris police headquarters previously told AFP that it had opened an investigation to verify these facts reported in this report.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin tweeted on Sunday afternoon that he "asked the Paris police chief to verify the accuracy of the reported facts in order, if they are verified, to prosecute the organizers and participants of these dinners" .
Guest of the Grand rendez-vous Europe1 / Les Echos / Cnews, the Minister Delegate for Citizenship Marlène Schiappa had previously estimated: "whether ministers or deputies" participated in clandestine dinners in Paris, as stated in this M6 report, "they must have fines and be penalized like any other citizen."
M6 broadcast this report on a hidden camera in a place presented as "an underground restaurant located in the beautiful districts", where the participants and the waiters do not wear masks and do not respect barrier gestures.
The channel also obtained images of a paid evening, where dozens of guests appear without masks, some kissing each other.
One of the organizers interviewed, presented as a "collector", affirms in disguised voice-over: "I had dinner this week in two or three restaurants which are supposedly underground restaurants, with a certain number of ministers. makes people laugh softly. We are in a democracy. We do what we want ".
The controversy was widely relayed on social networks.
It's the hottest topic on Twitter, under the hashtag #OnVeutLesNoms.
The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, reacted to the RTL-LCI-Le Figaro Grand Jury, in response to a question on this report: "there is no privilege for anyone and I would be curious if this restaurateur gives the names of the ministers if he is so well informed as that ".
"All the ministers, without exception, respect the rule, no one believes they are entitled to any privilege whatsoever," insisted Mr. Le Maire.
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