In one week, the elected representative of La France insoumise published two press releases to contest some of the elements with which he is accused, while acknowledging certain facts.
He assures “have fully complied with the law”. The “rebellious” deputy Carlos Martens Bilongo denounced “erroneous information”Wednesday, May 17, after the BFMTV channel reported that he had sublet his social housing to his sister while owning two apartments.
A week earlier, the Pontoise public prosecutor’s office announced that it had opened a preliminary investigation targeting Carlos Martens Bilongo for suspicion of laundering tax evasion and abuse of corporate assets. As revealed by BFMTV, the elected 32-year-old is suspected of having concealed just under 200,000 euros to the authorities over the period 2018-2022. Opened in mid-April following a report from Tracfin, Bercy’s financial intelligence unit, the investigation also relates to a possible failure to report to the High Authority for the transparency of public life (HATVP). The head of tax evasion was also retained, according to Mediapart (article for subscribers).
“I will be perfectly transparent”
One of the MP’s companies, Espace Code, a traffic code examination center created in 2018, reportedly reported lower than actual turnover, according to BFMTV. The chosen one would also have received transfers and collected several tens of thousands of euros in cash from his companies, while he declared to the HATVP that he did not derive any remuneration from them. Tracfin has also reported to the courts an undeclared account abroad which the deputy would hold, according to the news channel.
The deputy denied the holding of any account outside France. “To my knowledge, all of the sums paid into my company accounts have been declared in good and due form”he also assured, specifying that he had asked his accountant to verify that no “declarative error could not have been made”. “I will be perfectly transparent on all of these elements both with the institutions and with public opinion”he added, in a communicated.
The deputy claims to have “perfectly respected the law”
The report sent by Tracfin to the courts also concerns social housing allocated to Carlos Martens Bilongo in Villiers-le-Bel (Val-d’Oise), the town where he grew up and was elected. The LFI deputy would have benefited from it until December 2022 and would have sublet it to one of his sisters, according to BFMTV. “He was at the same time the owner of two other apartments”reports the chain.
Carlos Martens Bilongo denounced, Wednesday, in a new communicatedof the “erroneous information”. He claims to have benefited from social housing “in accordance with [ses] resource conditions” in 2013, after the death of his mother, when he was an apprentice. In 2018, he says he has “acquired two dwellings”one for a rental investment and the other for its “future personal accommodation”. The latter required “heavy work”which were made “until [son] departure from social housing, the date of which he does not specify, but which would have taken place in 2020, according to BFMTV. The MP says he has “informed the social landlord in writing and by bailiff in 2019 of all this information”. According to him, without any grievance having been addressed to him.
Grateful to have “resided with [sa] sister” in social housing, Carlos Martens Bilongo affirms that this “was able to release social housing at the end of 2022”. Questioned by BFMTV, he specifies that his sister “contributed to the rent”. In his press release, he believes he has “perfectly complied with the law in all respects”.
The elected representative of Val-d’Oise also deplores “judicially orchestrated leaks” so “illegal”. He promised “prosecutions against those who lend themselves to it”.
Supported by his party
For its part, the social landlord CDC Habitat confirmed to Mediapart that the elected official was no longer a tenant in his park. “since January 2023”. According to the law, “a tenant cannot sublet his social housing”unless there is a partial sublet for a person over 60 or with a disability, recalls real estate lawyer Valérie Moulines Denis at Figaro. As for becoming the owner of a principally occupied residence, “this may constitute grounds for termination of the lease” social housing, says the legal director of the National Agency for Information on Housing, Louis du Merle, on a daily basis. Finally, a rental investment from a social housing tenant “may generate income that could cause it to significantly exceed resource limits”.
For the time being, the MP retains the support of members of his party. “This cabal led by legal leaks and misinformation against my comrade Carlos Martens Bilongo is unbearable. It must stop immediately”, tweeted the national coordinator of LFI, Manuel Bompard, on Wednesday. The leader of the “rebellious” deputies, Mathilde Panot, also publicly came to her defense on Thursday morning on BFMTV: “I do not accept that we introduce sir Bilongo as someone who would seek to cheat (…) He stayed in the family home legally.”