The Court of Auditors pinned in a summary made public Tuesday the expenditure management of the office of the Minister of Overseas Territories, pointing in particular to problems of conflicts of interest and remuneration.

In the summary sent by its Prime President Pierre Moscovici to Minister Sébastien Lecornu on May 26, the control body also makes five recommendations "which are likely to improve the management" of the cabinet.

The Court of Auditors is first concerned about the weight of the cabinet.

This includes nine members and 56 agents of the cabinet office, who represent "a management charge and almost half of the staff of the General Directorate of Overseas (DGOM), the only central administration of the ministry, which does not include that 137 agents outside the office of the cabinet ”.

It therefore recommends "reviewing the distribution of tasks and jobs" in order to give the DGOM the means to cope with the fullness of its missions ".

Delays in declarations

The Court also questions the remuneration of advisers, which rose from 2.99 to 3.76 million euros in the space of four years, in particular the special hardship allowances.

It notes a "great variety" and a "dispersion which results more from the profiles of the people, from their previous assignment, from their status, than from the importance of the functions which they exercise within the cabinet".

The Court is also astonished that in matters of declarations of interest to the high authority for the transparency of public life, “in the fall of 2020, some of the declarations of assets of the team in office before July 2020 did not had still not been produced ”and that“ the duplicates of these declarations of interest filed by the advisers were kept, unopened and without having been consulted, in a cabinet safe ”.

“Partial and insufficient” budgetary and accounting control

The budgetary and accounting control of the expenditure of the cabinet "turned out to be partial and insufficient", also criticizes the Court, which underlines that "a not insignificant part of the expenditure is not traceable, even lack of obvious link with the activities of the service ”.

The Court nevertheless notes "a beginning of restoration" on the occasion of the change of minister in July 2020, when Sébastien Lecornu replaced Annick Girardin.

In a letter dated September 7, Sébastien Lecornu responded point by point to each of the recommendations, insisting in particular on the fact that “since 2017, the general direction of the Overseas Territories has never made known any obstacles to the good realization of its missions ”.

The Minister also underlines that since February 1, 2021, "an agenda is systematically drawn up for the interviews of taking up office including a discussion on the risk of conflict of interest".

He also ensures that a "process (...) is underway to formalize a vademecum of the expenditure".

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