Alain Thirion, ex-prefect of Haute-Corse and current director general of civil security, is the subject of a preliminary investigation for moral and sexual harassment after the complaint of an ex-sub-prefect of Calvi (Haute-Corse), a indicated on Saturday the parquet floor.
Anne Ballereau, former sub-prefect of Calvi, filed a complaint on December 30 against Alain Thirion at the police station in Bastia, according to a source familiar with the matter, confirming information from Corse-Matin.
Contacted by AFP, Alain Thirion said that he did not want "to comment at this stage". “I am not aware of the content of this complaint. I am at the disposal of the services in charge of the investigation and fully trust the justice system to establish the truth. "
Insistent remarks
In her complaint, which AFP was able to consult, Anne Ballereau denounces facts that would have taken place between 2015 and 2016, when she was stationed in Corsica at the same time as Alain Thirion. The latter left the island in 2017.
A preliminary investigation was entrusted to the Bastia judicial police "counts of psychological harassment in the workplace and sexual harassment by a person abusing the authority conferred on him by his duties," Caroline Tharot told AFP Procurator of the Republic of Bastia.
The complainant assures in particular that Alain Thirion, who was his supervisor, insisted on several occasions that she sleep at the prefecture, adding that his wife was "on the continent" and urging her not to be "difficult" .
On other occasions, he called her saying: "I'm 30 minutes from Calvi, I sleep at your house," she also says.
"I was a prey"
"I had the feeling that he was playing with me, that I was a prey," said Anne Ballereau in her complaint, describing her feeling of discomfort and her avoidance strategies.
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She describes a very familiar man, who from their first interview - which he asked him to arrange one-on-one in a restaurant on a Sunday afternoon - asked her "who sleeps with whom" at the prefecture. The day after this lunch, the prefect reportedly declared to 30 people that he had "had a good time with the sub-prefect yesterday".
She also describes a very "tactile" attitude: forced kisses, an arm wrapped around her waist "always in the tone of fun in front of people". Anne Ballereau also criticizes Alain Thirion for professional humiliations. The latter made her "pass for incompetent," she says.
