Toulouse. Indictment, will Laurence Arribagé be able to maintain her candidacy for the Legislative Assembly?
Through Guillaume Laurens
Published on
The former deputy Laurence Arribagé, renewed at the head of the Republicans of Haute-Garonne at the beginning of the year, was indicted Monday, December 13, 2021, for concealment of slanderous denunciation, concealment of illegal taking of interest, and concealment of violation of professional secrecy, indicates a judicial source at Toulouse news.
Recall that the case which targets the sports assistant to the town hall of Toulouse finds its genesis during the Legislative 2017, and was disoriented in Paris, where it is now in the hands of an examining magistrate. Chance (or not) of calendar: this same Laurence Arribagé has just entered the campaign for the Legislative 2022 … Can she go to the end, in this context? Point.
Supposed attempt at destabilization
At the heart of the questions of justice, a supposed attempt at destabilization during the period between the legislative rounds of 2017, of that which then contested the seat of Laurence Arribagé at the Palais Bourbon in the 3e Haute-Garonne constituency: the candidate for deputy Corinne Vignon (LREM).
A “corruption pact”
On January 18, almost four years after the events, the Toulouse public prosecutor’s office opened a judicial investigation, targeting four people, suspected of having instigated a plot : Laurence Arribagé therefore, but also the deputy regional director of tax services, a retired Toulouse prosecutor, and a business manager. Justice suspects of having made a sort of pact with a view to discrediting the rival of Laurence Arribagé before the second round of legislative elections. Corinne Vignon, who had suddenly been suspected of not having declared to the tax authorities all her income from former clairvoyance activities, had also deplored “a classic plot a few hours before the elections”.
With this “bogus” denunciation, this quartet, whose Mediapart recently unveiled the extent of the exchanges by SMS, would have worked on a tax audit, then the opening by the public prosecutor of Toulouse of an investigation for “hidden activity of astrology”. All this between the two legislative towers. Corinne Vignon did not fail to be elected, three days later, with 53.03% of the votes, on the constituency of Laurence Arribagé, heiress Jean-Luc Moudenc.
A change of scenery in Paris
The general prosecutor’s office having considered in this context mixing politics, justice and tax administration, the serenity of the investigation entrusted until then to the PJ of Toulouse risked to be compromised, the criminal chamber of the Court of Cassation had heard these arguments – in particular those of potential conflicts of interest – and decided last April to move the case back to Paris.
Laurence Arribagé invested for the Legislative 2022… facing Corinne Vignon
Laurence Arribagé had assured from the start that “these statements are not based on anything tangible”. Jean-Luc Moudenc’s assistant is already spread over the countryside in this very symbolic 3e constituency. Held by Jean-Luc Moudenc from 2012 to 2014 (before his election to the Capitol), she then returned to her deputy, from 2014 to 2017.
Like any indicted person, Laurence Arribagé is presumed innocent. But after having been invested for the legislative elections of 2022 last November, can she return to the electoral fight while being in the crosshairs of justice? All on a case relating to a previous legislative campaign? Legally, nothing prohibits it. Ethically, that’s another story.
What does Jean-Luc Moudenc think of it?
If in “off”, among the Republicans, some hope that the sports assistant will withdraw her candidacy to save the day, in “on”, it is the sacred union behind Laurence Arribagé.
Jean-Luc Moudenc, the mayor (LR) of the Pink City, does he want her to maintain his candidacy under such circumstances? Or that she retire? “The people of Toulouse do not expect me to get involved in the nominations for the elections by the political parties, on this constituency or on another, because it is not my role”, sweeps the chief magistrate, questioned by Toulouse news.
“It would be all the more inopportune to pronounce myself and thus ignore the presumption of innocence. A fortiori in a case which has nothing to do with the Municipality and for which many people tell me they are struggling to understand how the consistency of the acts complained of justifies arriving at a judicial procedure “.
Jean-Luc Moudenc prefers to turn to the Capitol and defend the action of his chosen one, who has been demoted 2e deputy since the last Municipalities: “Laurence Arribagé is an excellent elected representative in sports and mayor of the district, who carries out her deputy missions with all my confidence”.
“She will be leaving for the countryside after the holidays”
At the departmental office of the party, on poster a total cohesion behind the boss. “She has the support of her political family”, assures Christine Gennaro-Saint, departmental secretary of LR. “She will be leaving for the countryside after the holidays, like all of us.” “I have always said that I supported her in her candidacy”, remile Jean-Baptiste de Scorraille, deputy departmental secretary. “His personal affairs are not mine”, continues the one who is also departmental councilor of the canton of Toulouse 10 (entirely on the constituency that Laurence Arribagé is targeting again). He recalls in passing “that an indictment is not not a conviction ”.
But without even waiting for the fate of Valérie Pécresse, chosen by the militants to take the Republicans in the race for the Elysee, the right will she let a candidate struggling with justice wear her colors in the constituency that she is the least effective in Haute-Garonne, at the risk of triggering the machine to lose?
According to our information, at this stage, the national investiture commission of the republicans does not plan to withdraw his nomination to the local patron of the party, unless the person decides to decide the opposite … So, does she intend to maintain her candidacy? “Of course”, answers this Friday the elected, who refuses to make any other comment on the case. Laurence Arribagé and Corinne Vignon must therefore cross swords again.
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