André Santini, mayor of Issy-les-Moulineaux, targeted by two complaints for “sexual assault” and “sexual and moral harassment”

André Santini, the mayor of Issy-les-Moulineaux (Hauts-de-Seine) since 1980, is the target of two complaints from two town hall employees for “sexual assault” and “sexual and moral harassment” filed on Friday July 1, AFP learned from the Nanterre prosecutor’s office, confirming information from the World (article reserved for subscribers).

According to the daily, the two complaints against the elected 81-year-old emanate from his former chief of staff and a former bailiff who were dismissed by the mayor in mid-May, officially for “breaking the bonds of trust necessary to our collaboration”. They relate to facts dating from 2021 and 2022, and are “currently under study”confirmed the prosecution.

André Santini’s lawyer, Marc Bellanger, claims to have no knowledge of the details of the charges. “I have known Mr. Santini for seventeen years, we have never had any complaint lodged against him on the behavior attributed to him”the attorney said, adding: “I think this is a revenge campaign by these agents vis-à-vis the mayor, with whom there is a dispute. They are not happy with their administrative situation and have filed a complaint.” Contacted by AFP, the plaintiffs’ lawyer did not react immediately.

In addition to his mandate as mayor, André Santini has been vice-president of Greater Paris and head of the Syndicat des eaux d’Ile-de-France since 1983. He was also a deputy for Hauts-de-Seine for more than 25 years, and Secretary of State for the civil service between 2007 and 2009. “I naturally deny having had the slightest behavior as described in the complaints”, replied the elected official to Le Monde. “In forty years of good and loyal service, I have never been imputed or accused of such behavior”, he said, adding that “these accusations are part of a climate of conflict concerning the administrative situation of these agents”.