Investigators from the Montpellier financial brigade, under the authority of a Marseille investigating magistrate, carried out searches and arrests on Tuesday in the town hall of Barcarès (Pyrénées-Orientales),
Le Figaro
told
Le Figaro.
this Wednesday, May 5 the parquet floor of Marseille.
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A judicial investigation relating to suspicions of irregularities in the creation and implementation of taxes or duties imposed by the mayor, without legal basis, on traders and campsite managers had been opened in 2020. The investigation also related to "
The conditions under which these allegedly due sums were demanded,
" said the prosecution.
He added that
"the investigations have also revealed the subtraction or destruction of documents with a view to obstructing the manifestation of the truth"
.
Read also: Solère affair: search of Boulogne-Billancourt town hall
Thus, at the end of the various searches carried out in particular in the premises of the town hall, five people were placed in police custody, including the mayor of the seaside resort of 8,000 inhabitants, Alain Ferrand and the first deputy in charge of town planning.
History with justice
This is not the first time that the councilor of Barcarès is concerned by the justice system.
He who manages the city with his wife since 1995 has been sentenced several times.
Already in February 1999, Alain Ferrand had to resign for "abuse of social assets", before being sentenced to 3 years of ineligibility then to 5 years for "illegal taking of interests" in another case, as recalled by France. 3 Occitanie.
In 2001, he was again sentenced for tax evasion to a fine of 300,000 francs.
Business that did not prevent him, during the municipal elections of 2020, from being reelected in the first round as mayor of Barcarès.
