Le Figaro Nantes
Pot of roses or false alarm?
Pays de la Loire regional councilor Éric Grelier resigned on February 19 from his position as deputy vice-president for businesses, following a suspicion of a conflict of interest brought to the attention of the president of the council of the region, Christelle Morançais.
The elected official at the center of the affair, who also resigned from his presidency of the Regional Economic Development Agency, told our colleagues at
Courrier de l'Ouest
to remain
"calm",
being
"not worried about the bottom".
The story is rooted in the financing of a company specializing in the flower industry.
Entrepreneur in floral distribution since the 1990s, creator of Oya Fleurs then director of Floranova, Éric Grelier hatched a “start-up” in 2020 called ByFlox.
The digital platform intends to become the flower of distance selling of bouquets.
She sees the future in rosy colors and is organizing a fundraiser in 2020, completed two years later.
The operation injects half a million euros into the young company.
Including - and this is where things get complicated - 300,000 euros from public funds.
The prosecution on the case
This financing was provided in equal parts by two co-investment funds from the region: Pays de la Loire Participations and Pays de la Loire Développements.
Two entities that Éric Grelier supervised.
The entrepreneur sat on their respective management councils until Monday, since his election in 2021 to the regional council, on the Les Républicains list.
This position associated with his vice-presidency delegated to businesses did not, however, allow him to influence the choice of projects to be financed.
The possible collusion nonetheless makes the local Angevin newspaper
La Topette
jump , which revealed in June 2022 the proximity between the elected official and the financiers of his company.
Éric Grelier, seems to have himself presented his project to the Commitment Committee for the requested investment funds, which leads to questions about his indirect influence in the decision-making process of this Committee.
Extract from a summary note from the Pays de la Loire region
A year later, at the end of 2023, the general inspection services of the Pays de la Loire region took up the subject and highlighted the existence of a
“potential conflict of interest”
concerning Éric Grelier, according to a summary note that
Le Figaro
was able to consult.
Thus, the elected official
“seems to have himself presented his project to the Commitment Committee for the requested investment funds, which leads to questions about his indirect influence in the decision-making process of this Committee – whose members are appointed and dismissed by the management committee to which he belonged,”
specifies the document.
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Why did you wait more than a year between the revelation of the affair and the start of the internal investigation?
An initial check regarding the participation came up empty, as no legal infringement was found.
The alert, however, encourages the regional council to increase its vigilance.
“We have created a specific ethics officer position for elected officials;
it was operational from June 2023 and now contributes to strengthening controls
,
”
explains to Le Figaro
the entourage of the regional president.
Summoned on Monday by Christelle Morançais, Éric Grelier thus stepped aside from his responsibilities linked to the economic sector of the region.
“The file is now in the hands of the public prosecutor, the only person competent to determine the action that should be taken
,” said the president of the region in a press release released on Tuesday.