what we know about the accusations of “corruption” of deputies brought against Gérald Darmanin

Did the Minister of the Interior try to offer MPs benefits for their constituencies in order to convince them not to vote for the rejection motion against the immigration bill? This is what the left criticizes Gérald Darmanin, even though this motion was finally adopted on Monday December 11.

The battle, which began in the National Assembly, has now moved into the legal arena. MP Mathilde Panot, president of the La France insoumise group, contacted the prosecutor on Tuesday “on facts that could be compared to the corruption of elected officials by Gérald Darmanin”. The Minister of the Interior responded in the evening with the announcement of a complaint being filed in return.

Here is what we know about these accusations weighing on Gérald Darmanin, in complete uncertainty over the outcome of this major text of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term.

A socialist MP was contacted by mistake

Socialist deputy Philippe Brun told several media, including Release and the AFP, having been contacted by the chief of staff of the Minister of the Interior. The latter allegedly announced to him that the request for a gendarmerie brigade that he had made for a commune in his constituency was accepted, adding: “You know what the minister expects of you…” However, according to the elected socialist, the minister’s entourage confused him with his namesake, the Les Républicains deputy Fabrice Brun.

According to the president of the PS group in the Assembly, Boris Vallaud, this call came before the vote on the rejection motion. “Frankly, don’t you have the feeling that the minister is a little desperate?”asked the elected official on franceinfo.

Environmentalists call for a commission of inquiry

After these revelations from Philippe Brun, the environmentalist deputies requested the creation of a commission of inquiry, Tuesday morning, during their weekly press briefing. In the Hemicycle, the president of the environmental group, MP Cyrielle Chatelain, denounced the “methods “villainous” by Gérald Darmanin.

“If these facts are proven, it is a state scandal. It is extremely serious”denounced the environmentalist deputy Benjamin Lucas on franceinfo. The chosen one challenges “the presidential majority and the president of the Assembly” to accept his request for a parliamentary commission of inquiry.

“If the minister has nothing to hide, and if his cabinet has nothing to be ashamed of, they had every interest in accepting.”

Benjamin Lucas, environmentalist deputy

on franceinfo

It’s about “of a space of transpartisan Parliament”he argues, even imagining that this commission could be “chaired, why not, by a member of the presidential majority”.

The rebellious MP Mathilde Panot took the matter to court

The leader of the rebellious deputies, for her part, announced that she was going to contact the public prosecutor “on facts that could be compared to the corruption of elected officials”. “Bargaining votes to avoid the rejection of its immigration law, against gendarmes, brigades of mobile gendarmes? These facts, if proven, are a serious attack on democratic exercise!”she said on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

In her letter to the prosecutor, Mathilde Panot also mentions an article from Paris Match which evokes three LR deputies approached by the Ministry of the Interior. They are Jérôme Nury, Nicolas Forissier and Virginie Duby-Muller. The first abstained during the vote on the motion to reject, the second voted against and the third did not take part in the vote. “The Minister of the Interior is not in a logic of bargaining. Although he admits, half-heartedly, that he can sometimes decide favorably. But at the margin”assures Nicolas Forissier to the weekly.

Gérald Darmanin announces a complaint for “defamation”

Gerald Darmanin “will file a complaint for defamation and slanderous denunciation”his entourage announced to Radio France on Wednesday, confirming information from Agence France Presse. “The minister’s office is used to responding to requests from parliamentarians, as was the case for the deputy Fabrice Brun, deputy of Les Républicains de l’Ardèche, regarding his gendarmerie brigade”explains the minister’s entourage. “This real estate project was put together in July and formally validated in Octoberassures this same source. It was therefore not during the parliamentary debates on immigration that the decision was taken, but several months before.”