The decision was reserved for February 7.

Mr. Grosdidier is being prosecuted for having paid in 2011, when he was a deputy, a subsidy of 160,000 euros with the funds from his parliamentary reserve to the association Valeurs Ecologie, which he had chaired since 2009.

Tuesday the debates mainly focused on the use of this parliamentary reserve (abolished in 2017), "discretionary and tolerated practice, which was not based on any text but which was framed", underlined the public prosecutor, Frédéric Nahon.

Mr. Grosdidier assured that he had the feeling at the time of "favoring a cause which seemed to him to be of general interest rather than his personal interest".

The analysis of the association's accounts did not reveal any movement of funds favoring it.

The mayor of Metz added that he had "inquired from the minister's office to find out (if he) could be accused of a conflict of interest".

"I was assured that no, if I had known I would not have applied for the grant, or I would have left the presidency of the association," he insisted.

On this subject, the prosecutor however noted "that no trace of these requests for verification exists".

At the end of the hearing, the elected official noted "two reasons for satisfaction": "it is established and confirmed that there is no public misappropriation, nor any enrichment".

And moreover, even if the requisitions seemed to him "unfair or, at the very least, disproportionate", Mr. Grosdidier notes that "no penalty of ineligibility" was requested, "although that was the purpose of the complaint from my adversaries".

“We had the impression of attending the trial of the parliamentary reserve more than ours”, he concluded while the treasurer of the association Valeurs Ecologie was also sent back to his side, for “concealment of unlawful taking of interest".

In this case, an investigating judge had issued a dismissal order in 2016, confirmed on appeal in 2017 by the Metz investigating chamber.

But the anti-corruption association Anticor then lodged an appeal in cassation.

The Court of Cassation had quashed the dismissal in June 2018 and referred this case to the Nancy investigating chamber.

François Grosdidier was then indicted in February 2021 and returned to corrections in August 2021.

Mr. Grosdidier denounced "a permanent judicial harassment which does not cease", targeting a former political opponent, Philippe Mousnier, at the origin of this affair.

François Grosdidier was elected mayor of Metz in 2020. He had previously been mayor of the neighboring town of Woippy, from 2001 to 2017, and deputy for the 1st constituency of Moselle, from 1993 to 2011.

© 2023 AFP