The Minister of Overseas, Sébastien Lecornu. – Alfonso Jimenez / Shutterstock / SIPA
Overseas Minister Sébastien Lecornu was questioned on April 15 in Nanterre by the anti-corruption police on his past activities at the head of the Eure department, the subject of an investigation by the national financial prosecutor’s office for “illegal taking of interests” , AFP learned on Tuesday from a source close to the case.
The minister was heard in hearing of a free suspect by the police officers of the Central Office for the fight against corruption and financial and fiscal offenses (OCLCIFF), responsible for this investigation opened in March 2019, according to this source, confirming information from Mediapart. This survey, unveiled in January by the Chained duck and Release, has been open since March 2019 to charges of “illegal taking of interests” and “failure to report to the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life”.
Targeted “attendance fees”
According to Release, this survey was born following a letter from a “local authority banker converted into energy” sent in January 2019 to the head of the PNF at the time, Eliane Houlette. In his declaration to the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP), Sébastien Lecornu claims to have received between July 2016 and June 2017 a total of 7,874 euros gross of “attendance fees” as director of the Société des autoroutes Paris Normandie (SAPN).
However Sébastien Lecornu was at the same time president of the department of Eure, and, “as such, approved several deliberations” of the community relating to the SAPN, at least four according to the Duck, five according to Release.
A mandate exercised “in a completely transparent manner”
Asked in January by AFP, the cabinet of the 34-year-old minister, had indicated that “this mandate was exercised by Sébastien Lecornu in a completely transparent way, being the subject of classic legal publications and a declaration to the HATVP” .
“Sébastien Lecornu quite simply pursued a historic practice, following his election, by sitting for a year on the SAPN Board”, we added. “The management of the road network has always been associated with the public sphere. When the motorways were granted by the State to private operators in 2005, it was necessary to maintain (…) close links with the public authorities ”and“ as such, the departments of Calvados, Seine- Maritime and Eure are minority shareholders of SAPN and therefore participate in the general meeting, ”the cabinet specified.
“The presence of the presidents of the departmental council makes it possible to make the voice of the territories heard, relaying the public imperatives, with regard to the motorway projects which cross the department”, they insisted.