The former mayor of a rural town near Toulouse, indicted for corruption and notably suspected of having been offered luxurious trips in exchange for his influence, was placed in detention, we learned on Friday from from his lawyer.
Mayor (DVD) of Saint-Jory (Haute-Garonne), a town of 7,000 inhabitants about twenty kilometers from Toulouse, Thierry Fourcassier was indicted for passive corruption, money laundering and illegal taking of interest, he also indicated to AFP Me Eric Mouton, lawyer for the former elected official who
“at this stage does not wish to speak”
on the matter.
Already indicted for passive corruption
According to the Toulouse public prosecutor's office,
"investigations were able to confirm that the former mayor and his entourage received sums in their bank accounts from real estate business providers acting for developers, for reasons that remain to be clarified
. "
“Moreover,” continues the prosecution, “the defendant and his family would have made numerous family tourist trips between 2017 and 2023 for an amount exceeding one million euros, or on average 175,000 euros per year
. ”
Around half of this sum was
“paid directly by business providers”
and the other by the respondent after he had received payments from these same intermediaries, added the prosecution.
Thierry Fourcassier announced last September that he was resigning from his city's municipal council
"to preserve (his) family and elected officials"
, blaming
"the media lynching of the opposition"
.
At the time, he had just been indicted for the first time, for
“passive corruption, passive influence peddling, commercial advertising for electoral propaganda, obtaining votes using donations or promises”
.
According to investigators, real estate developers had been forced to sign checks in the name of city associations and the town hall imposed very high rates on them for the distribution of advertisements in the municipal gazette.