Luxury trips, dubious subsidies: in Marseille, the president of Bouches-du-Rhône, Martine Vassal, is the subject of a preliminary investigation for corruption
Martine Vassal, the right-wing president of the Bouches-du-Rhône department, is the subject of a preliminary investigation for embezzlement, influence peddling, and corruption, AFP learned on Wednesday, August 27, confirming a report by the Marseille media outlet marsactu. The elected official denies these accusations.
The public prosecutor's office has opened a preliminary investigation following the report of a senior official, Erwan Davoux, under Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
This former director of international relations in the Bouches-du-Rhône department accuses Martine Vassal of "expensive" official trips to Rome, New York, and Armenia in 2022 and 2024, as well as "clientelist" subsidies granted to associations of the Jewish and Armenian communities of Marseille, accusations revealed in an investigation by Nouvel Obs .
A second investigation has been opened, the prosecutor's office said, targeting Erwan Davoux himself, for accusations of "blackmail and incitement to hatred" by Martine Vassal against him. The president of the metropolitan area denounced "imaginary offenses" against unknown persons, adding that she had refused to "pay nearly €300,000 in compensation to Mr. Davoux."
Mr. Davoux also denounced the relationship between Martine Vassal and her chief of staff, Marc Jolibois, on the grounds that "the law for confidence in political life prohibits including one's husband, partner or partner among the members of one's cabinet," he explained to AFP.
An accusation contested by the lawyer defending the interests of the department, Pierre Bruno: "No legal provision has suffered from this appointment, the president being neither married, nor in a civil partnership, nor the concubine of any member of her cabinet," he assured the press agency.
He added that Erwan Davoux was "responsible for organizing the trips he is denouncing today." "He is in conflict with the department," for which his contract ended on January 31 after three years of collaboration during which he did not "get along with the elected officials and his department," according to Mr. Bruno. Martine Vassal, expected to represent the right at the Marseille mayoralty during the municipal elections next year, denounced a political maneuver. "Politics to harm a potential candidate for mayor of Marseille does not authorize everything," she wrote on X.
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