Mayor Gaël Perdriau puts an end to the functions of his chief of staff

Gaël Perdriau, the mayor of Saint-Etienne, has put an end to the functions of the director of cabinet of the city and the metropolis, announces the mayor Tuesday September 20 in a press release that franceinfo was able to consult. Pierre Gauttieri was implicated in the intimate video blackmail case in Saint-Étienne targeting the former first deputy mayor of Saint-Etienne, Gilles Artigues.

>> Intimate video blackmail in Saint-Étienne: “The evidence of the reality of the machination and blackmail is overwhelming”, according to Gilles Artigues’ lawyer

Gaël Perdriau claims to have met “the elected representatives of the majority council of the city of Saint-Étienne, of the executive of Saint-Étienne Métropole, and all the mayors within the metropolitan office” at the end of his hearing by the investigators, and this in a “concern for transparency”. Mayor LR meanwhile displayed his “determination” to remain in place at the town hall and in the metropolis.

“At the end of these consultations, it seemed to me necessary, in order to allow the municipal and metropolitan work to continue with serenity, to put an end to the functions of the director of cabinet of the city and the metropolis. The latter understood the stakes of this decision and accepted it”, explains Gaël Perdriau. He would like to point out that Pierre Gauttieri and himself benefit “like each of our fellow citizens, of this essential guarantee of democracy which is the presumption of innocence”.

Friday, elected officials from the metropolis of Saint-Étienne had asked for the withdrawal of their president Gaël Perdriau, also mayor of Saint-Etienne. The day before, the group of elected officials had left the council chamber asking for the departure of the current chief of staff of Gaël Perdriau at the town hall and at the metropolis, Pierre Gauttieri, also implicated in the affair.