INFO BFMTV – The Minister of Labor is due to appear in connection with a case relating to the awarding of a water management contract in 2009. He was then mayor of a municipality in Ardèche.
The Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt will be tried for the offense of “favoritism” from November 27 to 30 in the context of a case relating to the award of a water management contract in 2009, while he was mayor of Annonay, in Ardèche, learned this Friday BFMTV from a judicial source. The Minister was summoned to appear for these facts by the Financial Prosecutor’s Office last week.
“I will convince the court of the merits of my position and of my good faith on this last point remaining to be decided”, immediately reacted the minister to BFMTV, when an investigation had been opened for five grievances and four of them have been classified.
For the record, Olivier Dussopt is suspected of having favored Saur, a group specializing in water treatment, in the context of the debates relating to the awarding of the water market in his town of Annonay. The investigations revealed the fact that he had had talks with the managers of the company, while the contract had not yet been awarded.
The hearing will be held over four half-days before the 32nd chamber of the Paris court.
The leader of the company tried for “complicity in favoritism”
“I have the satisfaction of noting that my explanations have largely convinced the public prosecutor’s office, which considers that four out of five of these grievances have no substance and they have closed them without further action. I am therefore not accused of any corruption”, still assured Olivier Dussopt with BFMTV.
Suspicions of “favoritism” weighing on the minister were revealed last February by Mediapart, last February, in full sequence on the pension reform carried out by the government. The Minister then received the support of the Head of State and the Government.
Olivier Dussopt will be judged along with Olivier Brousse, a former manager of Saur, the company which won the water management contract and which is suspected of having benefited from favoritism. Olivier Brousse will be tried for “complicity in favoritism”, while the Saur, as a legal person, is dismissed for the offense of “concealment of favoritism”.
For this case, the Minister of Labor incurs a sentence of two years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros.