The former prefect of police Alain Gardère, suspected in particular of corruption and embezzlement of public funds, will be judged by the criminal court, we learned Friday, August 11 from judicial source. "The investigating judge served on August 10 an order of referral to the criminal court for two legal persons and 13 natural persons, including the former prefect Alain Gardère," said this source to AFP, confirming information from Le Monde.
He will be tried for numerous offences, including offences of abuse of authority to defeat the law, passive bribery by public official, concealment of misuse of company assets, forgery and use of forgery by a person holding public authority, as well as embezzlement of public funds and laundering of tax fraud.
These offences are punishable by five to 10 years' imprisonment.
Numerous alleged facts
The alleged acts were committed between 2005 and 2015. "The referral order of the investigating judge mentions that the telephone tapping established that Alain Gardère systematically used his position to obtain benefits, and did not put limits on the services requested by his friends or acquaintances," the judicial source told AFP.
At the heart are arrangements of various magnitudes between the accused: real estate transactions, real estate or swimming pool work, the illegitimate obtaining of approvals to security agents, the issuance of the carrying of weapons, the transfer of civil servants or the hiring of staff, solicitations of civil servants for undue tasks. Alain Gardère is also suspected of having used his influence to render many services in exchange for gifts for him and his entourage: starred restaurants, works, concert tickets, holidays ...
Former commissioner close to Nicolas Sarkozy when the latter was in Beauvau and then at the Élysée, Alain Gardère was prefect in charge of security in Marseille in 2011, then at Roissy and Le Bourget airports (2012-2014). In 2015-2016, he headed the National Council for Private Security Activities (Cnaps), under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior. The other defendants, including several business leaders, are accused of corruption, influence peddling or abuse of company assets.