He has been on trial since Monday in Paris for suspicion of favoritism in the context of a public market in 2009 when he was mayor of Annonay (Ardèche).
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After that of Éric Dupond-Moretti, the trial of another member of the government in office is underway. The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) requested, Wednesday November 29, a 10-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 15,000 euros against the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, for favoritism. He has been on trial since Monday in Paris for suspicion of favoritism in the context of a public market in 2009, when he was mayor of Annonay (Ardèche).
The PNF did not request a penalty of ineligibility, with regard to “the age of the facts”, against the minister. He also requested eight months of suspended imprisonment and a fine of 15,000 euros against Olivier Brousse, former general director of Saur, and 1 million euros and a suspended exclusion from public contracts, for a period of three years, against this drinking water supply company.
The minister proclaims his “good faith”
“I hope that this hearing will allow me to establish my good faith,” declared the Minister of Labor, 45, before the Paris criminal court, Monday, November 29, in a statement modeled on his previous public expressions on the subject of this trial. He thus reiterated his satisfaction that of the five grievances initially targeted by the preliminary investigation, opened in May 2020 after an article by Mediapart, “the prosecution (has) chosen to classify four of them.”
He remains prosecuted for “favoritism”, an offense which emerges, according to the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) from two documents seized from his home in August 2020: the report of an interview with Olivier Brousse, the general director of the supply group and water treatment Saur, in July 2009 mentioning the amount of a contract and the criteria of the call for tenders, and an email from the elected official sent shortly after to his services, asking to change several of these criteria.