The mayor of Agde Gilles d’Ettore remains in pre-trial detention

The mayor of Agde (Hérault) Gilles d’Ettore remains in pre-trial detention, his lawyer informed franceinfo on Friday March 5. The investigating chamber of the Montpellier Court of Appeal delivered its judgment, after a request for the release of the mayor made on Tuesday. He has been in pre-trial detention for 15 days, indicted for corruption and illegal taking of interest.

It is an incredible story which has led the elected representative of Les Républicains – at the head of this city of 27,000 inhabitants on the edge of the Mediterranean for 23 years – to pre-trial detention. He says he was tricked by a clairvoyant.

At the hearing on Tuesday, the attorney general requested the continued detention of Mayor Gilles d’Ettore, 55, to avoid consultations. The other key character in this funny affair is a 44-year-old woman who calls herself a medium, “healer” and above all has ventriloquist talents thanks to which she made her clients believe that they were entering into a conversation with the afterlife, in this case for Gilles d’Ettore with his deceased father. In exchange, the mayor provided her with services: hiring her husband at town hall, building a veranda. This weekend, two executives from the Eiffage construction group suspected of having participated in the secret financing of work at her home were also indicted.

Gilles d’Ettore disputes that “hundreds of thousands of euros of public money were embezzled.” He retains his mandates as mayor and president of the urban area. From his cell, he regrets not having been able to consult with his teams to talk about the future.