"He is the head of the administration but a material element is missing, there is no certainty that he maneuvered, there is no concealment", estimated the public prosecutor Laurent de Caigny. , without, however, explicitly requesting release.

The 49-year-old mayor was tried with six co-defendants by the Drôme criminal court for alleged acts of granting unjustified advantages for the benefit of the "Fusées" association, when he was entrusted with the organization of a popular event, the "Tiles Festival", in Grenoble in 2015 and 2016.

“We are going to wait for the judgment but it is more comfortable when the prosecutor asks for release than when he asks for a conviction”, reacted Mr. Piolle after the requisitions, while deploring that the judicial calendar led him to police custody. just after his candidacy for the environmental primary for the 2022 presidential election.

The prosecutor of Valence - where the case had been disoriented - also did not require a sentence for the former director general of municipal services François Langlois and a former project manager, considering that they had acted "in good faith ".

He, on the other hand, demanded fines, with or without suspension, for the four other defendants, two ex-territorial agents of Grenoble and two representatives of the collective "Fusées".

The prosecutor accused them of having committed or profited from a form of "office offense without taking personal advantage".

The seven defendants were accused of being responsible or beneficiaries of the absence of a call for tenders for the first two editions of the “Fête des Tiles”.

This procedure is however provided for by the public procurement code in the case of a contract for the organization of a cultural event.

Faced with these accusations, the defendants defended themselves by arguing that it was in fact an artistic work, a service not subject to the obligation of a call for tenders, whereas the engineering was assumed by the services of the city.

"For me it was a show", notably supported Mr. Langlois, invoking "respect for the law", while his former superior Eric Piolle tried to clear the ground by summing up the trial to a "technical debate".

- "No cronyism" -

In the eyes of the regional chamber of accounts (CRC) - at the origin of the procedure - the service "related to the realization" of a party and should therefore have been subject to competition.

#photo1

A vision shared by Me Thierry Aldeguer, lawyer for the municipal opposition led by former mayor Alain Carignon, fierce political opponent of Mr. Piolle.

The mayor, "in his capacity, had the duty to enforce the public procurement code", estimated the council in its argument.

"Mr. Piolle is: + I see nothing, I hear nothing, I say nothing +", he insisted, after the city councilor had indicated that he had not been, at the time , informed of any difficulty in these contracts, each around 130,000 euros.

"There is no cronyism, Mr. Piolle did not take advantage of his elected profession", retorted the mayor's lawyer, Thomas Fourrey, sweeping away suspicions of collusion with the cultural collective, including a member had signed a favorable platform before the election of Mr. Piolle in 2014.

For his part, the prosecutor noted that the mayor had "fulfilled his duties in good conscience" because he trusted his services.

The two days of debates, Monday and Tuesday, were marred by some tensions between Camp Piolle and the lawyer for the municipal opposition who filed a civil action.

The environmentalist mayor refused to answer Me Aldeguer during his interrogation, then temporarily left the room on Tuesday, declaring that he did not wish to listen to the argument of "Mr. Carignon's lawyer".

Judgment was reserved for October 25.

© 2022 AFP