Laurent Vallet, President of the National Audiovisual Institute, Suspended After Buying Cocaine

At a time when the government has declared war on drug trafficking and intends to make drug users more responsible, the affair is having a negative impact. A senior civil servant, Laurent Vallet, president of the National Audiovisual Institute (INA), was arrested in Paris on July 29 after having cocaine delivered to his home, the Paris prosecutor's office reported to Le Monde on Tuesday, August 12, confirming information from Valeurs actuelles .

Having occurred in the torpor of the summer, the incident would undoubtedly have gone under the radar if the weekly had not revealed it. A few hours later, the political sanction fell. Explaining that she had learned "from the press" of the accusation of the president of the INA "in a case of drug purchase ", the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, announced on X her decision to "immediately suspend" him from his duties "for the serenity of the institution" and "pending further information" .

According to a police source from Agence France-Presse (AFP), the case began with the tailing of a 17-year-old minor by police officers from the anti-crime squad (BAC). After following the young man into the inner courtyard of a building, they arrested him as he left and discovered the sum of 600 euros on him. He told them he had gone to see a "friend," who turned out to be Laurent Vallet. The latter admitted to the police that he had bought cocaine worth 600 euros and handed the drugs over to the police.

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