One more rock in Valérie Pécresse’s shoe? In the middle of the presidential campaign, the elected environmentalists of Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) announce on Monday that they are seizing the public prosecutor against the president of the region and of this transport authority, Valérie Pécresse, whom they suspect of illegal taking of interests for having held stock options at Alstom, supplier of IDFM equipment.
These elected officials, including David Belliard, deputy (EELV) of the PS mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo and support of Yannick Jadot, candidates like Valérie Pécresse in the presidential election, “think” that the latter has committed since her election at the end of 2015 ” an offense of illegal taking of interests”, they explained Monday during a press briefing.
Valérie Pécresse would hold Alstom shares according to the accusations
They decided to use article 40 of the code of criminal procedure, which requires “any constituted authority, any public officer or civil servant” having knowledge of a crime or misdemeanor to report it to the public prosecutor.
This action follows the publication of press articles in which “it is indicated”, according to the Greens, that Valérie Pécresse “would hold Alstom shares with her husband. A situation which, if proven, would be incompatible with her function as president of IDFM, ”they say.
Her husband, a former employee of Alstom
According to an online media article Blast published in January, Valérie Pécresse “invisibilized” shares of Alstom that she held in common with her husband so that they no longer appear in her declarations of interest. Jérôme Pécresse worked at Alstom until the takeover of the group’s energy activities by General Electric in early November 2015.
A month later, Valérie Pécresse was elected head of the region and quickly created, according to Blast, a trust, arrangement also known by the Anglo-Saxon term of trust, so that a bank manages this portfolio of shares for them. Since then, IDFM has ordered nearly 2.4 billion euros of rolling stock from Alstom, underline the elected environmentalists.
Valérie Pécresse announces to file a complaint
“However, Mrs Pécresse did not abstain from participating during this period in the examination of the files and the choice of the companies submitted to the vote of the CA (…) which resulted in the choice of the company Alstom as supplier of the organizing authority, (…) while she and her husband were holders of financial assets of this company”, they say.
Solicited by AFP, Valérie Pécresse’s entourage indicated that the Republican presidential candidate had asked her lawyer to file a complaint for slanderous denunciation.
“After the start of her term as President of the Region, neither Mrs. nor Mr. Pécresse ever owned Alstom shares again, nor was they interested in the results of the Alstom company or in the evolution of its share price”, said the same source.