The preliminary investigation against the EELV deputy mayor of Paris David Belliard, who was implicated after the City of Paris awarded a subsidy to a Parisian publishing house that published it, was closed in March, AFP learned on Friday from a source close to the case.
These investigations, launched in May 2021 for illegal acquisition of interests, were closed on March 20, 2023 "on the grounds that the offense was insufficiently characterized," the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) confirmed to AFP.
After the 2019 edition of David Belliard's essay "Paris, rêve de gosse: Pour une ville vrai écologique (Paris, kid's dream: For a truly ecological city)", the City of Paris granted 50,000 euros in 2020 to the publishing house "Rue de l'Échiquier".
Referral to the justice system by Rachida Dati
On March 12, 2021, Rachida Dati, LR president of the opposition group "Changer Paris" in the Paris Council, had sent a report to the courts. But "at the end of the investigation, it has not been demonstrated the existence of a link of interest between David Belliard and the SAS rue de l'Échiquier" which would have been "likely to compromise impartiality, independence or objectivity", explained the PNF.
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This report by Rachida Dati now appears to be a political manoeuvre by the president of the LR group in the Council of Paris to cast doubt on David Belliard's probity and independence," Tewfik Bouzenoune, counsel for David Belliard, said in a statement sent to AFP.
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It is deplorable for democracy and for the functioning of the justice system to see a politician who was herself Minister of Justice make such inconsistent use of this reporting procedure (...) while at the same time our justice system suffers from a glaring lack of financial and human resources to enable it to function adequately," he said indignantly. Rachida Dati did not respond to AFP's requests for comment.