Free hearings have already taken place as part of the investigation into the multiple employment of Caroline Magne, the ex-wife of Éric Ciotti.
The President of the Republicans was heard on December 13 and his ex-wife on December 20, the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) said on Monday, confirming information from RTL.
Another source confirmed these hearings.
Éric Ciotti and Caroline Magne could not immediately be reached to comment on this information.
The PNF had opened in November, in the middle of the campaign for the presidency of LR, a preliminary investigation for embezzlement of public funds, breach of trust and concealment of these offenses after the publication of articles according to which the ex-wife of Éric Ciotti would have accumulated several jobs in the Assembly, in Nice and in the department, for nearly ten years.
“Very part-time” parliamentary collaborator
According to Le Canard enchaîné, she would have accumulated various jobs with the deputy or political allies: press attaché to Christian Estrosi, in 2007 she became parliamentary attaché to Éric Ciotti when he was elected to the Assembly, in addition a job at the Alpes-Maritimes departmental council where she "extended her skills" when her husband took over as president in 2008. The article also revealed that she had become deputy director of the mayor of Nice before joining the urban community steering team, exercising these responsibilities until 2011.
At the Assembly, her contract ended in 2016 but she also, between 2014 and 2016, held responsibilities in the town of La Colle-sur-Loup, and had a job in the diocese of Nice between 2012 and 2014, according to the chained Duck.
The diocese had denied in November, ensuring that Caroline Magne had "occupied a job in a Catholic education establishment in the Alpes-Maritimes".
After the publication of this article, Éric Ciotti explained that he had employed his ex-wife as a "very part-time" parliamentary assistant and "in strict compliance with laws and regulations".
