"
A dozen
" gendarmes from Dordogne are being investigated for "
aggravated fraud
", suspected of having exaggerated their moving bills when joining their new barracks in Thiviers in the spring of 2021, the prosecutor's office said on Tuesday June 7. Perigueux.
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The damage for the gendarmerie is estimated at "
a few hundred euros
" per gendarme implicated, i.e. a total of "
a few thousand euros
", the public prosecutor Solène Belaouar told AFP, confirming information of the Sud Ouest newspaper.
These gendarmes, all non-commissioned officers, "
young or older
", are suspected of having "
used this illegal modus operandi
" during the move in May 2021 of the Thiviers and La Coquille brigades to a new barracks. in Thiviers, inaugurated last November by Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
"An illegal practice"
The Périgueux public prosecutor's office opened an investigation after receiving a report from the gendarmerie last February.
Gendarmes from another unit of the Dordogne group denounced to their hierarchy that a mover had offered them "
an illegal practice to inflate the moving costs
" of their accommodation, the gendarmerie explained to AFP.
Over the course of the investigations entrusted to the gendarmes of the Bordeaux research section, the investigators discovered that the gendarmes of Thiviers had used such a process, even if, according to the prosecution "
not all of them had the same degree of involvement
”.
“
The investigation will make it possible to determine the responsibilities of each and who had the initiative of this mode of operation
”, underlines the prosecutor.
Heard in free hearing, the gendarmes recognized for some the facts, others denied them, according to the gendarmerie.
The public prosecutor must now decide on the follow-up to be given to the procedure, which can go as far as prosecution before the criminal court.
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Alongside this criminal aspect, other procedures are in progress.
On the disciplinary level, the public prosecutor of the Court of Appeal of Bordeaux, Pierre-Yves Couilleau, must rule on the possible suspensions or withdrawals of the authorizations OPJ (officer of judicial police, editor's note) of the respondents.
The gendarmerie is also carrying out an administrative investigation with a view to possible sanctions and office transfers.