Michel Chapuis, the UDI mayor of Puy-en-Velay, a close friend of Laurent Wauquiez (LR), refused Thursday April 14 to suspend his mandate as demanded the day before by the opposition, after new revelations from the online newspaper Médiacités on the awarding of a public contract which is the subject of an investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office.
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Read alsoInvestigation for favoritism in Puy-en-Velay: six people released after their custody
“
I am not at all in the idea of resigning (...) nor of suspending myself from my functions as would be required by the particular case law of the elected representatives of the city of Le Puy, according to which from the moment when his name is in the newspaper, you have to put yourself in reserve for the republic
,” the first magistrate of the Ponote city told AFP.
On Wednesday, the leader of the municipal opposition Laurent Johanny had asked that the mayor and his deputy for Commerce Jérôme Eynard "
ask to be suspended from their duties during the investigation
", in the light of recordings published the day before. by the investigation site Médiacités.
After a complaint against X filed in February, the PNF opened an investigation into suspicions of favoritism in the awarding of the management of the future covered market hall in the city center, a public market valued at eight million euros for ten years.
One of the two candidates, Alexis Haon, issuer of this complaint and former political opponent of the former mayor of the city between 2008 and 2016, Laurent Wauquiez, told AFP "to
have been deliberately disadvantaged during the procedure
".
In excerpts from recordings published on Tuesday by Médiacités, an employee of the local economy center referred to Alexis Haon as "
the guy (...) who should not be retained because Wauquiez does not want it
".
Read alsoThe National Financial Prosecutor's Office opens an investigation for "favoritism" and "corruption" in the award of a public contract in Puy-en-Velay
According to these recordings, Michel Chapuis, informed of the risks of litigation weighing on this contract award, would have declared: “
I don't care about litigation
”.
Thursday, the mayor also announced his “
intention to seize the public prosecutor to find out who placed the microphones
”, affirming that “
those who have knowledge of the recordings, who hold them and who communicated them
” have committed a fault .
criminal.
Michel Chapuis, who succeeded Laurent Wauquiez in 2014 at the head of the Haute-Loire prefecture, talks about "
listenings that last a long time, carried out in the professional and private context
".
