The president (DVD) of the European Metropolis of Lille (Mel) Damien Castelain appears in criminal court from Monday February 12 for violation of public procurement rules in the hiring of a relative, and misappropriation of public property, illegal taking of interests and concealment on the sidelines of the construction of the Grand Stade.
President of Mel since 2014, Damien Castelain is accused, while he was vice-president of the metropolis at the turn of the 2010s, of having benefited, on the sidelines of the construction by Eiffage of the Grand Stade de Lille, from more than 17,000 euros of blue stones delivered via the builder, for a personal terrace.
The rest of the Grand Stade case in which six people, including Damien Castelain, had been indicted for various acts of corruption, favoritism, forgery and use of forgery and influence peddling, resulted in a dismissal of the case.
The elected official is also on trial for a case launched by the investigative site Médiacités in 2018: expense reports which would have been used to pay for perfumes and luxury hotels.
“Irregularities”
The prosecution had opened a preliminary investigation for embezzlement of public funds and receiving stolen goods following a complaint against X from anti-corruption activist Éric Darques and a report from the Anticor association.
The French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA) noted
“irregularities”
in a report published by Médiacités .
In 2019, the elected official's lawyer, Florence Rault, indicated that her client had reimbursed
“the entirety of the expense reports”
reported by the AFA, via
“a donation”
of 20,542.03 euros to the Mel, but assured that this reimbursement did not constitute an admission of guilt.
Damien Castelain is also on trial for having had Mel cover the lawyer's fees for his defense in the Grand stadium case, and for the conditions of hiring a press advisor, recruited without respecting the rules of public procurement. .
“He gave a public contract to his neighbor, who had previously worked in the same position and defined the specifications herself
,” points out to AFP Éric Darques, civil party in the trial.
At his side on the dock, the former general director of Mel services Bruno Cassette, now sub-prefect of Aix-en-Provence, tried for complicity in illegal taking of interests and attack on freedom access to public markets, and the former press advisor of Mel, for receiving stolen goods.