The four people placed in police custody, Thursday, July 16, in the investigation opened on questionable powers of attorney established for the municipal in Marseille in the sector won by the ex-PS senator Samia Ghali, emerged without legal action.
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The police custody was lifted between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., a source familiar with the matter told AFP. They concerned a police commander working in these popular districts of the north of Marseille, two running mate of Samia Ghali and an activist, adds this source, confirming information of the regional daily newspaper La Provence. " The investigation is continuing, the judicial decisions will be taken when it is completed, " said Marseille prosecutor Dominique Laurens, confirming the lifting of these police custody.
" The procedure is unfortunately always similar and therefore does not ensure the real will of the principal to establish a proxy, " explained Thursday evening to AFP Ms. Laurens, citing the conditions under which these powers of attorney were established, without the principal being present, as provided by law.
Suspected proxy collections
This investigation into questionable powers of attorney in the 8th sector of Marseille was opened on July 6 by the Marseille prosecutor's office. Within the framework of these investigations, several police officers had already been heard " on the procedure of collection of the proxies ", had then specified the prosecutor to AFP. This investigation targeting the 8th sector is in fact the direct consequence of a first investigation opened in Marseille on other questionable powers of attorney, in the 4th and 6th sectors, two bastions of the Republicans.
This first investigation into possible “ fraudulent maneuvers ” and “ forgery and uses of forgery ” had been opened after France 2 and the weekly Marianne had revealed these “ simplified proxies ”, proposed in particular by an elected LR as well as by a running mate. Martine Vassal, the candidate of the Republicans for the city, in the 4th sector. Then it was extended to suspicion around the vote of residents of a Ehpad in the 6th sector, residents sometimes suffering from diseases like Alzheimer's.
If Julien Ravier, outgoing LR mayor, was re-elected in the 6th sector, Ms. Vassal, president of the metropolis and of the department, was beaten in the 4th sector, the fief of Jean-Claude Gaudin, LR mayor of the city for 25 years. The latter passed the baton to Michèle Rubirola, elected under the banner of Printemps Marseille, a left-wing coalition whose executive Samia Ghali joined.
