“The truth is that today there is a billion euros more debt for the City of Paris linked to this system. Honestly, it’s a Ponzi.” This sentence, pronounced by Gabriel Attal on November 23 on France Inter, will lead to the Minister of Public Accounts taking legal action. The Council of Paris indeed authorized Thursday the mayor PS Anne Hidalgo to file a complaint for defamation against him, on behalf of the City.
In this sentence, the minister compared the capitalized rent system of the town hall to the Ponzi scheme, a scam in which the remuneration of the first participants is ensured by the bets of newcomers.
“Malice”
The object of repeated criticism from the right-wing and center opposition, the operation of capitalized rents consists, for the City, of asking its social landlords for all the rents due over several decades and of registering the proceeds collected in revenue from operations and not from investments to balance its budget. This is a derogatory but legal device.
“A Minister of Public Accounts has great power. When Mr. Attal accused the city of financial embezzlement, he not only showed malice but also inconsistency”, judged the elected EELV Emile Meunier, considering that it was a “destabilizing operation Politics “.
The opposition voted against
“What the minister says engages the responsibility, including on the criminal level, of hundreds of people who are either elected officials, or civil servants of the City of Paris, or of the State”, added the first deputy Emmanuel Grégoire , judging “logical” that the City of Paris, “as a legal person, can assert its right to respect”.
The opposition voted against, arguing that if Anne Hidalgo were to file a complaint, she should do so “in her name”.