A search was carried out on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region as part of a preliminary investigation into the employment of Laurent Wauquiez’s collaborators and the remuneration of one of his relatives, Ange Sitbon, said Wednesday the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), confirming information from the Lyon media.
“It is a procedure which is following its course”, reacted the office of President LR of the region, “as since the start of this investigation, the Region has been at the disposal of justice to communicate to it all the elements which she deems useful. »
The regional chamber of accounts challenged by the remuneration of Ange Sitbon
In October 2019, a report by the Regional Chamber of Accounts (CRC) on the first years of Wauquiez management (2016-2018) pinpointed, without naming it, “the atypical situation of a service manager”, whose remuneration monthly – “nearly 9,000 euros net” – represented “more than double” the average of that of his peers within the community.
An amount justified, according to the regional executive, by the “high level of technicality” and the importance of the missions of this contract agent, hired as “coordinator of relations with elected officials”.
A “disproportionate” payslip
The payslip of the person concerned – Ange Sitbon, former electoral tactician of the UMP and LR at the national level, recruited by Laurent Wauquiez at the start of his mandate – risked appearing “disproportionate” to the administrative judge, estimated the Chamber .
In its report, the CRC also pointed to “about twenty posts of ‘vice-presidency officers’, filled mainly by recruitment of category A contractual agents”, but “similar” to cabinet positions, beyond beyond the workforce ceiling authorized by law.
In June 2020, she reported the facts to the Lyon prosecutor, who forwarded the file to the PNF. The latter had opened an investigation in the autumn of the same year.