Le Figaro Nice
Searches and police custody have been underway in Nice (Alpes-Maritimes) since Tuesday morning,
Le Figaro
learned from corroborating sources, confirming the first information from the regional daily
Nice-Matin
.
These procedures concern the preliminary investigation opened in April 2023 for “accounting anomalies” and potential embezzlement in the context of the settlement of the post-storm Alex construction sites.
In October 2020, this meteorological disaster ravaged the valleys of the Nice hinterland and caused the death of ten people.
Major reconstruction work was subsequently launched, not without delays and controversies.
This is not the first time that searches have been carried out in this case.
Investigators have already visited the premises of the city and metropolis of Nice twice on April 21 and December 21, 2023. The community had at the time sent a report to the Nice prosecutor for suspicion of embezzlement on the Vésubie road construction sites.
She had since become a civil party and positioned herself as a victim.
Since then, the Nice prosecutor's office has relinquished responsibility for the benefit of the specialized interregional jurisdiction of Marseille (Jirs) dedicated to economic and financial affairs, learns
Le Figaro
.
And this,
“given the great complexity of the case”
, specifies the public prosecutor of Nice, Damien Martinelli.
Read alsoTempête Alex: this internal document on the financing of the work which sows trouble around Christian Estrosi
“Very large audiences”
According to sources close to the matter, these new investigative acts concern several community executives close to president-mayor Christian Estrosi (Horizons), including his chief of staff, Lauriano Azinheirinha, but also the general director of services, Bastien Nespoulous.
Both were arrested at their home, we are told.
Other executives in charge of the work and business leaders would also be heard.
All are currently being interviewed by investigators.
“What he says will be decisive
,” says an expert on the matter.
The latter does not rule out
“indictments”
in the process.
A message in a loop of elected officials from the Nice metropolis was relayed at the end of the morning by the office of Christian Estrosi.
In it, which
Le Figaro
was able to consult , the deputy director confirms that
“very large hearings (companies, civil servants, etc.) are taking place this morning in the case of the work undertaken at the time of storm Alex”
.
But according to her, it would be
“the logical continuation of the report established by Christian Estrosi almost a year ago”
.
The metropolis even says it is
“satisfied that the investigation is progressing”
and assures that it
“will continue to contribute to the manifestation of the truth”
.