This is a major twist in a financial affair with multiple ramifications.
The mayor (LR) of Étampes (Essonne), Franck Marlin, was placed in police custody this Wednesday, February 28, in the premises of the PJ (judicial police) of Versailles, we learned from a source close to investigation.
The 59-year-old elected official has been interviewed since the end of the afternoon by police officers from the economic and financial affairs division.
The Évry-Courcouronnes public prosecutor's office "confirms the placement in police custody of Franck Marlin", without giving further details.
Investigation and searches
According to our information, it is for a vast file of alleged financial embezzlement that the mayor of Étampe is placed in police custody.
With, initially, an investigation opened in 2021 by the Essonne public prosecutor's office for "embezzlement of public funds, infringement of freedom of access to a public market and breach of trust and forgery".
This followed revelations from our colleagues at Mediapart and a report from the Anticor association to the courts.
Concretely, Franck Marlin is notably accused of having, in his capacity as mayor, unduly received sums of public money during his mandate.
Read also Waste trafficking: the former mayor of Fleury-Mérogis indicted for corruption
Subsequently, searches were carried out in the town hall of Étampes by Versailles investigators.
The investigations continued, on the basis of the documents and computer equipment seized... Until this new twist on Wednesday.
His custody can last up to 48 hours, if the prosecution decides to extend the hearings.
A key figure in Sud-Essonne, deputy from 1995 to 2020, elected mayor of Étampes between 1995 and 2017, before his re-election in 2020, Franck Marlin was a member of the RPR, before joining the UMP then the Republicans.