The training organization of the Communist Party (PCF) has been at the center of an investigation since 2017 for suspicion of embezzlement of public funds in particular, between 2011 and 2019, we learned Thursday from a judicial source, confirming information from Mediapart. According to a source close to the case, justice suspects the existence of an organized system of financing the PCF through the Center for Information, Documentation, Study and Training of Elected Officials (Cidefe), thanks to training credits elected officials from communist communities. A preliminary investigation was first opened by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) in 2017 following a denunciation sent by the Court of Auditors.
Training agreements or hands-on training
This followed the examination by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional chamber of accounts of the management of Givors (Rhône) and Fontaine (Isère), then led by elected communist officials. In its 2017 report on Givors, the regional chamber of accounts pointed out that “the training of elected officials is mainly provided by Cidefe”. The training was “carried out on the basis of an agreement signed by the mayor”, of an amount flat rate paid by the municipality before they have been carried out, regardless of the final number of participants.
“Such a system somewhat undermines the principle of free choice by elected officials of approved training organizations and ignores the principles of public procurement,” according to the regional audit chamber. His report also notes that the first deputy and a municipal councilor were respectively president and administrator of the departmental branch of Cidefe. According to a source close to the matter, Cidefe is targeting communist town halls so that they sign training agreements or formal training.
Justice suspects the organization of “subsidizing” its departmental branches which transfer a large part of the funds to the departmental federations of the PCF under the cover of rent and provision of equipment, for several hundred thousand euros.
The investigations were then entrusted to an investigating judge in February 2020, for suspicion of illegal taking of interests, embezzlement of public funds, breach of trust, abuse of corporate assets, bankruptcy by misappropriation of assets and concealment of these crimes. New searches took place in February 2022. At this stage, no one is indicted or placed under the status of assisted witness.