On Twitter, a screenshot of an e-mail questioning the presidency of Paris-8 University, in Saint-Denis, was shared by Samuel Lafont, director of digital strategy for Reconquête, the party of ‘Eric Zemmour. In this e-mail is reported a “search of Paris-8 by several judicial police officers of the financial brigade”, which would have been “directed by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office” (PNF) for “suspicions of embezzlement of public funds and of corruption” concerning European funds allocated to research.
According to this e-mail, a report would have been made to the European Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf), which would have opened an investigation in the spring “due to fraudulent use of funding”.
” What’s going on ? “, “you must react”, asked Samel Lafont to the direction of the university. In response to his tweets, the Paris-8 Twitter account said he was the victim of “anonymous, misleading and defamatory emails” and asked him not to relay them.
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When contacted, the University of Paris-8 told us that a complaint had been filed with the police for “defamation of individuals by word, writing, image or by means of electronic communication”.
In an e-mail sent to the staff on November 21, 2022, which we were able to consult, the presidency of the university indicates that it wants to respond “to the defamatory mail on the supposed search of the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office”. She explains that this is in fact a “completely ordinary control procedure” by Olaf, concerning the control of the management of European funds. This office is part of the European Commission, but is operationally independent. It is responsible for investigating to detect cases of fraud or irregularities to the detriment of the EU budget.
The PNF confirms that it did not search Paris-8 on November 14
On November 14, 2022, two Olaf agents carried out a check, “as provided for in the regulations relating to European funding”, it is specified in the e-mail from the management. Due to territorial sovereignty issues, these investigators were accompanied by two French judicial police officers. The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office, explicitly mentioned in the e-mail posted on Twitter, confirmed to us that there had been “no search by the PNF today within the University of Paris-8”.
The objective of this visit was “to establish the scope of the control of European funds and the list of services required to produce the supporting documents requested”, underlines the letter. The investigators left on Tuesday afternoon, November 15, said management, and not four hours later, as mentioned in the email on Twitter.
The presidency denounces the sending since October 5 of “defamatory e-mails” coming from a “collective”, “not representative of the agents of the university”, because not elected. The latter uses “disinformation”, develops “explicitly slanderous fictions based on factual elements such as the management of cinemas or a control of European services in order to then divert them and insert defamatory allegations”. This collective “harms the reputation and the proper functioning of the establishment”, regrets the management in its e-mail.