The prosecutor of Basse-Terre decided to prosecute the president of the Collectivity as well as the two vice-presidents, Annick Petrus and Valérie Damaseau for crime of favoritism. They are summoned to the criminal court of Saint-Martin on December 19.
Jean-Luc Lennon, who accuses elected officials of not having respected the rules for awarding public contracts, wants to provide a “quick” criminal response to these files which date from 2018. He confirms that other investigations related to public contracts are underway, particularly in the waste sector.
Annick Petrus is being prosecuted for having verbally authorized a market to a company with a view to distributing food donations in 2018. Valérie Damaseau is being prosecuted for similar facts; she authorized the repair of private roofs. "However, a COM cannot pay for repairs to an individual," notes the prosecutor. After Irma, the COM had voted the sum of 5 million euros for the repair of roofs for people in difficulty. 400 roofs had been identified to be redone, this represented the sum of 17 million euros.
As President, Daniel Gibbs is held responsible for the award of these contracts. He is also accused of having contracted up to 250 euros with an insurance broker without having had recourse to the public procurement procedure. The broker had to estimate the amount of damage on the buildings belonging to the COM. The broker is also being prosecuted by the prosecutor for concealing the crime of favoritism and concealing the misappropriation of public funds; the broker could have refused the contract insofar as he had not been selected following a call for tenders. (soualigapost.com)
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