Auxerre: an elected official on trial for laundering drug trafficking

Europe 1 with AFP 09:23, 04 April 2023

The elected opposition Farah Ziani (no label), already convicted of fraud, is tried from Tuesday for laundering, concealment or conversion of the proceeds of a drug trafficking offense. Seven other defendants appeared before the Criminal Court of Auxerre for unauthorized acquisition, offer or transfer of narcotics or complicity. Among the defendants is Farah Ziani's husband, Jérémy C., who is currently in pre-trial detention.

"The couple had a lifestyle much higher than their income," Auxerre public prosecutor Hugues de Phily told AFP. At the origin of the investigation, a "denunciation" that led to a search in Beines, Yonne), where 1,600 grams of heroin were found. In this drug trafficking case, which ran from 1 March to 14 December 2020, Farah Ziani is accused in particular of money laundering.

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Already sentenced in 2022

On March 10, 2022, this municipal councillor was sentenced in connection with a fraud case by the Auxerre Criminal Court to four months in prison suspended and a five-year ineligibility sentence. The elected official, who was accused of having stolen 10,000 euros from a client, in October 2020, at the time when she worked in a real estate agency, appealed by denouncing "an unfounded accusation". This appeal suspends the conviction that occurred in March 2022.

Ziani, 42, refused to withdraw from her opposition group "The assurance of a serene transition", a formation bringing together ecologists, socialists and marchers against the LR mayor of Auxerre, Crescent Marault. The new trial is scheduled to last three days. The penalty for drug trafficking is up to ten years in prison, five for money laundering.