A territorial attaché of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional council was placed in police custody Tuesday morning in Lyon as part of the case on alleged blackmail to the intimate video in which the mayor of Saint-Etienne Gaël got stuck. Perdriau, according to information obtained from the regional council.
Asked by AFP following information from France Info on this subject, Laurent Wauquiez's cabinet also confirmed the "
search, Tuesday morning of the professional premises
" of this project manager at the Youth and Sport Department of the territorial community.
Gaël Perdriau was expelled from the Republicans last week, after a series of revelations from Mediapart about a sextape blackmail aimed at his former centrist first deputy Gilles Artigues.
Read alsoIn Saint-Étienne, the political destiny of Gaël Perdriau mired in the “sextape” scandal
Namely accused by his former first deputy, placed in police custody in mid-September, quoted in damning audio recordings published by Mediapart, the mayor of Saint-Etienne has always protested his innocence.
But he was forced to step back from his executive functions as mayor and president of the metropolis of Saint-Etienne.
The employee placed in police custody on Tuesday was tasked with the Saint-Etienne regional councilor Samy Kéfi-Jérôme, also involved in this case of alleged blackmail on intimate video, dating back to January 2015, when he was municipal deputy for education .
The city of Saint-Etienne intends
to "constitute a civil party within the framework of the open judicial investigation
" on the financial aspect of the case, according to a "
deportation order
" from the mayor obtained by AFP on Tuesday.
The deportation order aims to "
prevent a situation of potential conflict of interest in the management of this procedure
" and the mayor undertakes to stay away from any action or information arising therefrom.
The financial aspect concerns the fictitious services invoiced to two local cultural associations subsidized by the town hall that one of the protagonists of the blackmail claims to have received for this "
smearing of morals
".
