The LR president of the Île-de-France region Valérie Pécresse announced on Wednesday the dismissal of the preliminary investigation opened at the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) targeting her for illegal taking of interests with the railway manufacturer Alstom.
Valérie Pécresse “welcomes the decision of the PNF to close without follow-up for lack of infringement, the complaint lodged against her by elected officials from Europe Ecologie Les Verts, in February 2022 in the middle of the presidential campaign”, indicated her entourage to the AFP. The president of the region announced this ranking during the board of directors of the transport authority Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM).
Accused of making Alstom shares invisible
It was reported by his opponent Jean-Baptiste Pegeon, one of the elected environmentalists who had reported, under article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a potential conflict of interest. A source familiar with the matter confirmed the classification for lack of infringement of this investigation opened in March 2022.
Asked, the PNF confirmed the classification of this investigation which “demonstrated that there were no links of interest between the president of the Ile-de-France region and the company Alstom at the time of the allocation of the subsidies. “.
Several EELV elected officials had denounced to the public prosecutor the fact that Valérie Pécresse allegedly held stock options at Alstom while presiding over the transport authority IDFM. These elected officials, including Jean-Baptiste Pegeon and David Belliard, deputy (EELV) to the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo (PS), relied on an article from the online media Blast accusing the president of the region of having “invisibilized” Alstom shares that she held with her husband so that they no longer appear in her declarations of interests.
Jérôme Pécresse worked at Alstom until the takeover of the group’s energy activities by General Electric in November 2015.
2.4 billion euros order from Alstom
A month later, Valérie Pécresse was elected head of the region and quickly created, according to Blast, a trust, arrangement also known by the Anglo-Saxon term of trust, so that a bank manages this portfolio of shares at their place.
Since then, IDFM has ordered nearly 2.4 billion euros in rolling stock from Alstom, according to elected environmentalists.
The personal and family situation of Valérie Pécresse “was public, known since 2016, in accordance with the obligations of the High Authority for the transparency of public life (HATVP)”, underlined Wednesday the ex-candidate LR for the presidential election, attacked about it in the middle of the countryside.
Complaint for slanderous denunciation
Valérie Pécresse, who had taken “all measures” to “avoid any conflict of interest” with Alstom, once again denounces a “coarse political manipulation” of these elected environmentalists.
The PNF informed her that her complaint for “slanderous denunciation” against the elected EELV has just been sent to the Paris prosecutor’s office for instruction, indicates Valérie Pécresse.