Judicial police officers carried out a search at Montpellier town hall at the end of last week. They seized documents as part of two separate investigations. One concerning suspicions of fictitious jobs, the other on the remuneration of the former chief of staff of Mayor Michaël Delafosse (PS).
These procedures follow the report of the regional chamber of accounts, published in June 2023. This document studied the period from 2015 to 2021, i.e. most of the mandate of Philippe Saurel (DVG) and the start of that of his predecessor, Michaël Delafosse (PS). He had revealed the presence of 297 agents without assignment and without work. For some for two years.
Our file on Montpellier
In 2021, 3,710 agents worked for the community, for an average payroll over these six years of 172 million euros per year. Or 77% of the city’s own tax resources. The report pointed to an absenteeism cost of 33.7 million euros annually and forty-four days of absence on average per year and per agent. With the vicious circle of resorting to new hires to replace those absent…
220 agents attached to the mayor’s office
The second investigation concerns the remuneration of the mayor’s former chief of staff. The preliminary investigation was opened for “embezzlement of public funds and concealment”. The Regional Chamber of Accounts had pointed out the sharp increase in personnel expenses when Michaël Delafosse took office as well as the number of agents attached to his office: two hundred and twenty.
“We provided them with all the necessary documents,” explains 20 Minutes the city, which emphasizes having worked on the twenty-one recommendations of the regional chamber since the release of its report. “The mayor followed his agenda normally and was not heard by the investigators,” the community further specifies.
