The Institut Montaigne announced, Sunday February 27 in the evening, the resignation of its director, Laurent Bigorgne. The latter will be tried on March 10 before the Paris Criminal Court. He is suspected of having drugged an employee at a party without his knowledge.
Laurent Bigorgne, who has led the liberal think-tank since 2011, has resigned “was accepted by the members of the steering committee during an exceptional meeting”, according to a press release from the Institut Montaigne. The organization adds put “everything to support its employees during this period by providing them with a psychological unit” and decided to “entrust a third party with the conduct of an internal investigation relating in particular to the working environment within the institute”.
The management committee of the Institut Montaigne, Camille Godeau, deputy director, as well as the management committee, will ensure the continuity of its activities under the supervision of its president, Henri de Castries, and its two vice-presidents, Jean-Dominique Senard and David Azéma, specifies the press release.
At the end of his police custody which began on Friday, Laurent Bigorgne was the subject of a summons by report on March 10 before the court for “administration of a harmful substance followed by incapacity not exceeding eight days by a person acting under the manifest influence of narcotics”.
Invited to the home of Laurent Bigorgne, one of his collaborators, aged about forty, filed a complaint on the night of Tuesday February 22 to Wednesday February 23, after an early evening spent in his company. According to The Parisianshe reportedly told police that she suddenly felt ill after drinking a glass of champagne and went straight to a hospital where she was told she had symptoms of drug abuse.
According to information from the daily, the complainant’s toxicological expertise revealed the presence of MDMA, a synthetic drug from the family of amphetamines also called ecstasy, in her body.