Macron il Minimo. Il Ministro Ferrand sotto inchiesta per frode.

Giuseppe Sandro Mela.

2017-06-06.

«La procura della Repubblica di Brest, in Bretagna (nord della Francia), ha aperto un’inchiesta sui fatti attribuiti in questi giorni da diversi media francesi al ministro della Coesione territoriale e segretario generale di En Marche!, Richard Ferrand. Lo rivela il quotidiano locale, Le Telegramme.

L’informazione è stata successivamente confermata da un comunicato del procuratore di Brest, Eric Mathais. Le indagini avranno “come obiettivo la raccolta di ogni elemento che consenta un’analisi completa dei fatti e la ricerca di una loro eventuale rilevanza penale in materia di reati contro la proprietà e non osservanza della correttezza e delle regole delle cooperative”. La stessa procura, giorni fa, aveva rifiutato l’apertura di un’inchiesta sulle iniziative immobiliari controverse del ministro Ferrand, stando a Le Canard Enchainé. Stamattina, la svolta, dopo gli appelli di molti esponenti politici dell’opposizione e di associazioni anticorruzione. Negli ultimi giorni, oltre al caso degli investimenti immobiliari che coinvolgevano la sua compagna, Ferrand è stato tirato in ballo per diversi casi di presunti conflitti d’interesse» [Ansa]

*

«Meanwhile junior European Affairs Minister Marielle de Sarnez is among 19 French MEPs under investigation over their hiring of assistants»

*

Francia. Dominique Strauss-Kahn e François Fillon. Vite parallele.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn e François Fillon al rogo mediatico. Per Mr Ferrand solo qualche sparso trafiletto.

---

→ Saudi Gazette. 2017-06-03. Probe piles pressure on flailing Macron minister

FRENCH prosecutors said Thursday they had launched a preliminary investigation into a property deal involving one of President Emmanuel Macron’s ministers, on the same day his new government outlines a bill on cleaning up politics.

The announcement by prosecutors in western France adds to the pressure on Richard Ferrand, who has rebuffed calls to resign over allegations of favoritism towards his common-law wife in a lucrative deal with a health insurance fund.

The affair has embarrassed 39-year-old Macron, who swept to power on May 7 on a pledge to rejuvenate France’s corruption-plagued political class — a win he aims to cement in June’s parliamentary elections.

It comes as Justice Minister Francois Bayrou prepares to set out the contents of the president’s first highly-anticipated bill, which will tighten ethical standards for holders of public office.

Ferrand, one of Macron’s first prominent backers and formerly secretary general of the president’s Republique En Marche (Republic on the Move) party, has denied any wrongdoing.

He told France Inter radio on Wednesday: “I am an honest man.”

“Everything I have done in my professional life is legal, public and transparent,” he insisted.

The Canard Enchaine investigative newspaper reported last week that an insurance fund that Ferrand headed in his native Brittany — where he is an MP — agreed in 2011 to rent a building from his partner Sandrine Doucen and carry out renovations that boosted its value.

Ferrand, a 54-year-old minister for territorial cohesion who is running for re-election to parliament, says Doucen made the fund the best offer and that he had no say in the matter.

Prosecutors initially waved away the allegations, saying there were no grounds for an investigation but on Thursday said they changed their minds in light of “extra elements that could implicate” Ferrand following a complaint from anti-corruption association Anticor.

Prosecutor Eric Mathais said the investigation would focus on whether the deal between Doucen and Les Mutuelles de Bretagne breached laws on probity in office and the workings of a public insurance fund.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Tuesday he would not ask Ferrand to step aside unless he was formally charged with an offense.

On Thursday, Philippe held that line, with his aides saying the launch of an investigation had “not changed the rules”

The Ferrand affair, as it has been dubbed, is the lone snag in an otherwise smooth start to Macron’s tenure, during which he has been praised for standing up to US President Donald Trump and taking a firm line with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on human rights.

Macron’s rivals on the left and right have seized on the controversy to try win back ground lost to the centrist ahead of the June 11-18 parliamentary vote.

A Kantar Sofres poll on Tuesday showed Macron’s fledgling party on course to win the first round of the election with 31 percent.

The conservative Republicans party, still smarting from the defeat of its corruption-accused candidate Francois Fillon in the presidential election, has accused Macron of ethical double-standards — as has Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front (FN) and the Socialist Party.

Le Pen, who was runner-up to Macron in the presidential vote, said the Ferrand affair “looks terribly like the Fillon affair”.

Beyond the allegations about the property deal Ferrand has also been left red-faced by revelations that he hired his son as his parliamentary assistant for four months in 2014.

The total sum involved — 7,045 euros — is a fraction of the money earned by Fillon’s wife for a similar job over which Fillon is charged with misuse of public funds, but employing his son contradicts Ferrand’s loud complaints about nepotism. “Do what I say, not what I do,” the left-wing Liberation daily wrote in a biting front-page headline Wednesday, alongside a picture of Ferrand. It added in an editorial: “When you preach morals in public life, this is a messy affair.” — AFP

---

→ Bbc. 2017-06-03. French prosecutor probes Macron ally Ferrand over deal

A French prosecutor is investigating alleged financial misconduct by Richard Ferrand, a minister in President Emmanuel Macron’s new government.

Mr Ferrand’s partner, Sandrine Doucen, allegedly profited from a property deal while he was head of a health insurance fund renting office space from her.

He denies wrongdoing. Separately, one of Mr Macron’s junior ministers is also suspected of financial impropriety.

The timing is awkward for Mr Macron, as he launches an ethical standards bill.

He has made clean government a flagship policy, after financial misconduct allegations hit his main rivals in the presidential election – National Front (FN) leader Marine Le Pen and conservative Republicans candidate François Fillon.

His new centrist party, La République en Marche (Republic on the move), wants to win convincingly in key parliamentary elections this month.

Polls suggest the party can win, but the well-established party machines of the Socialists and Republicans are formidable rivals.

Mr Ferrand, who is Territorial Cohesion Minister, managed a Brittany fund called Mutuelles de Bretagne in 1998-2012.

A prosecutor in the western city of Brest has opened an investigation to see if any of Mr Ferrand’s actions might be deemed illegal.

The satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné raised suspicions about Mr Ferrand last week. It also alleged that his son had worked as a parliamentary assistant in 2014, which the minister dismissed as minor work which lasted for only four months.

Meanwhile junior European Affairs Minister Marielle de Sarnez is among 19 French MEPs under investigation over their hiring of assistants. Seventeen of them – including Ms Le Pen – are in the FN.

Ms Sarnez denied wrongdoing and threatened to sue the FN member who made the allegations against her.

Parliamentary assistants on the EU payroll in Strasbourg were allegedly given work in French national constituencies, which violates EU rules.

At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, President Macron urged his ministers to show “solidarity” and “responsibility”.

Mr Macron is against MPs working as consultants or employing family members.