We explain to you the “sextape” affair which is shaking up the Senate, in which the courts have been seized

The institution’s doctor, on the verge of being fired, says he is the victim of a “cabal” orchestrated by an assistant whom he had denounced, because she boasted of having an intimate video involving a senator.

It is an accusation of blackmail that has been making noise for several days in the cozy confines of the Senate. In a letter sent to all senators, Friday February 9, the doctor of the upper house, about to be fired, says he is the victim of “cabal” after denouncing the behavior of one of his assistants. He claims that it boasts of having an intimate video of a senator and of being able to use it as a means of pressure. Gérard Larcher, President of the Senate, announced that he would take legal action. Franceinfo reviews the main elements of this affair.

What did “The Chained Duck” reveal, where did the affair start?

In its Wednesday edition, The chained Duck evokes the existence of“a sex tape” involving “a senator” and an assistant to the Senate physician. And claims that this video of an intimate moment “between consenting adults”two years ago, became, for the latter, “a mean of pression” within the institution. The weekly does not give the name of the senator concerned, but says that the doctor complained to his superiors about the behavior of his subordinate in the fall, and that the matter has been kept secret since. “three months”.

Why is the Senate firing this doctor?

The chained Duck explains that the quaestors of the Senate, responsible for managing the finances of the upper house, initiated dismissal proceedings at the end of January against the doctor in question, who has been working at the Palais du Luxembourg for five years. They accuse him of several things, including the fact of having carried out “paid external services for the benefit of the SNCF” or to hold shares in a real estate company. Nothing related to his denunciation of the behavior of his assistant and the “sex tape” that she allegedly holds.

How does the practitioner defend himself?

The Senate doctor sent a letter to all senators on Friday, consulted by franceinfo. He writes : “The administration accuses me of holding shares in a real estate company. (…) I did not see that this was prohibited in the terms of my contract.” Claiming that his dismissal “for serious misconduct” must be effective on February 15, it denounces a “cabal” against him “from the upper administration”.

For the doctor, “the reality of the cause of [son] dismissal” is based on the fact that he had alerted the administration about the behavior of his assistant, “claiming to be the mistress of an authority in the Senate at the time of her recruitment”. “This secretary has always explained that she had the ability to ‘fire’ whoever she wanted, using her privileged relationship with this authority in the Senate”, he wrote, believing that he had suffered the consequences. According to The chained Duckthe doctor explained to his superiors in the fall that his assistant had sent him the “sex tape” in her possession to attest to his influence.

How does the Senate react?

The group of environmentalist senators sent a letter to Gérard Larcher, president of the Senate, on Friday, asking him that “all transparency be made on this matter”. “Too often, the opacity which reigns over the management of the internal affairs of the Senate, far from protecting the image of the Institution, harms it”writes the elected environmentalist Guillaume Gontard, for whom the upper house “cannot further evade the democratic demand for transparency and exemplarity”.

Gérard Larcher’s office announced on Friday afternoon that the latter had decided to “make a report to the public prosecutor”considering that it “it is now up to the courts to take up the facts in question”. “The making and dissemination of the video recordings that the doctor indicated he had in his possession are likely to be criminalized”explains the firm.