France: Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt caught up in a case of "favoritism"
The minister admits being accused of "favoritism" on a public market in 2009, when he was deputy and mayor of Annonay.
© AFP/Ludovic Marin
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, announced in a statement to AFP this Friday evening that the national financial prosecutor's office had held against him the offense of "favoritism".
He had received two works of art from a company as a gift in 2017, when he was deputy and mayor of Annonay.
A preliminary investigation had been opened for corruption and illegal taking of interest.
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This case falls badly while Olivier Dussopt carries the
pension reform
.
Because Monday, February 6, Olivier Dussopt will have to be on the bench in the National Assembly.
This debate on pensions begins in the hemicycle.
It is he, the Minister of Labour, who is responsible for carrying the sword against the opposition.
Suffice to say that the revelations of
Mediapart
on the conclusions of an investigation concerning him, come at the worst time for him and the government.
Olivier Dussopt therefore decided not to wait to react and chose to do so via a statement to Agence France-Presse.
Two works by Gérard Garouste received
The minister admits being accused of "
favoritism
" in a public contract in 2009. But he insists that "
no corruption
" is however reproached to him by the national financial prosecutor's office (PNF).
The PNF had opened a preliminary investigation after the discovery of a gift, two works by Gérard Garouste, received by Olivier Dussopt from a manager of the Saur group, in charge of water management in his town of Annonay.
This investigation was already underway when Olivier Dussopt was appointed Minister of Labor in May 2022. According to
Mediapart
, the next step in the procedure could be a summons from the minister to formalize the holding of a trial.
►Also read: POLITICAL TUESDAY Olivier Dussopt, Minister of Labour, Full Employment and Integration
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