Gaël Perdriau is the subject of a complaint for “aggravated blackmail, ambush in an organized gang, embezzlement of public funds and non-denunciation of criminal acts” filed by his former first deputy, Gilles Artigues.
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Shock in Saint-Etienne. A complaint for “aggravated blackmail, ambush in an organized gang, embezzlement of public funds and non-denunciation of criminal acts” was filed on Monday August 29 against the mayor of Saint-Etienne (Loire), Gaël Perdriau (LR) by his former first deputy Gilles Artigues (UDI), said the public prosecutor of Saint-Etienne, David Charmatz. This information comes after the Friday revelations of Mediapart on alleged manipulation at the sextape.
The investigative media relies on the revelations of Gilles Rossary-Lenglet, former companion ofdeputy mayor, Samy Kéfi-Jérôme. The latter had organized, at the end of 2014, a filmed meeting with a gay escort in Paris, to trap and muzzle Gilles Artigues. According to Gilles Rossary-Lenglet, this video would then have allowed the municipal team of Gaël Perdriau and his chief of staff Pierre Gauttieri to put pressure on the father of the family and to dissuade him from a possible dissidence. His candidacy for the second round of municipal elections in 2008 divided the right and contributed to the election of Maurice Vincent (PS).
Targeted by this complaint alongside Gilles Rossary-Lenglet and Samy Kéfi-Jérôme, Gaël Perdriau declared on Saturday that he had “at this stage no comments to make on a video” that he affirms not to see sight. He disputes “firmly any notion of blackmail against Gilles Artigues”. The centrist elected official, who resigned last May from his position as first deputy, declared on Facebook on Monday that this blackmail had “rotten (the) life”. He is, moreover, still deputy to Saint-Etienne and vice-president of his metropolis.
He has also just been appointed diocesan director of Catholic education from Tarn to Albi. Samy Kefi-Jérôme, regional councilor, was suspended on Saturday from his duties as digital strategy delegate for the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region by its president Laurent Wauquiez. The complaint was received Monday morning, the case was moved to Lyon on the instructions of the Attorney General near the Lyon Court of Appeal, assured the prosecutor.
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