Fabien Roussel denies having held a “phantom” job as a parliamentary assistant, after the revelations of “Mediapart” – Le Monde

Less than seven weeks before the first round of the presidential election and five years after the Fillon affairFabien Roussel, the candidate of the French Communist Party (PCF) in the presidential election, is accused in a survey of Mediapart published Sunday evening of having been paid between 2009 and 2014 as parliamentary assistant to the Communist deputy from the North Jean-Jacques Candelier without having really worked for him, but rather for the party. Mr. Roussel, who denied the accusations Monday morning, assured that he had ” documents “ proving his activity and assumed to have rather played a “political role” with Mr. Candelier, at the microphone of Europe 1.

The online news site, however, claims to have found no proof of Mr. Roussel’s work, whether in documents, emails or text messages, even though the latter was well paid to perform the function of parliamentary assistant by his deputy, up to 3,000 euros per month from May 2009 to June 2014. In a press release published on Monday, Mr. Candelier said on his side “surprised and indignant at the article implying that Fabien Roussel did not work for [lui] ».

No supporting documents

“My work with Jean-Jacques Candelier has been on my website since I became a candidate”defended himself, Monday morning, Mr. Roussel, who has been a deputy for the North since 2017. “ I say today that I have worked during these five years with [l’ex-député du Nord] Jean-Jacques Candelier, with the colleagues I had with him. Jean-Jacques like them will be able to testify to the work we have done together. ” ” My work (…) is in all the speeches, all the written questions and the laws carried by Jean-Jacques Candelier”, he added.

“I was with him, and without him, to follow conflicts in Douaisis, at his home (…), the tires of my car remember it, I drove a lot for him. (…) I have the documents of the work that I did with him on these subjects, with trade unionists”affirmed Mr. Roussel, before making it known that he “will show them[t] “. He assured that his former deputy “was proud to have [eu] a politician as a collaborator”.

“Several former assistants to the deputy were unable to tell us what were the duties of Fabien Roussel, who did not attend weekly team meetings on Mondays at the Somain office”, written however Mediapart in his investigation.

If the media emphasizes having asked him to provide proof of his work, without having received any documents “despite many requests”Mr. Roussel said on Monday “more to have” text messages and work emails from that time. He also denies having been paid 3,000 euros net per month. “I never won that, I started at 2,460 euros net, I have the documents. And I think I finished at 2,700”he says.

François Bayrou defends Fabien Roussel

“He was a valuable and effective collaborator, in the field, constantly in contact with many union players, elected officials, inhabitants of Douaisis as well as the entire mining area and Nord-Pas-de-Calais”, says his ex-employer, Mr. Candelier. Fabien Roussel “had a very fine knowledge of the economic and social situation, but also close ties with many players in the territory. (…) That’s why I hired him.”underlines the former deputy, highlighting the political role of his ex-collaborator.

“A month and a half before the first round, something that comes out like that, I said to myself, serenely, ‘it’s the game'”, declared Mr. Roussel. While he denies any suspicion of fictitious employment, he believes that Mediapart at “investigated by interviewing people who are at war with [lui] “: “I don’t only have friends, that’s normal. » The communist candidate has officially submitted his candidacy to the Constitutional Council ” this week-end “, after getting 500 referrals.

” What is accused of Fabien Roussel is a kind of judicial diversion of things that are absolutely normaldefended François Bayrou, president of the Democratic Movement (MoDem), Monday morning on France 2. A deputy, his job is to go to the National Assembly, to study texts and it is to play politics. Without that, he wouldn’t be a deputy. »

“The function of parliamentary assistant is a launching pad function. Manuel Valls, Eric Ciotti, Xavier Bertrand were parliamentary assistants. There are dozens of them like that.”estimated Mr. Bayrou. It is therefore, according to him, absolutely normal that a deputy doing politics, his assistant also helps to do politics. We are elected by the voters and also because we have the nomination of a party. What could be more normal than working with your party when you are a deputy? »

As a reminder, the MoDem and its ancestor, the Union for French Democracy (UDF), were indicted in December 2021 for “complicity and concealment in the embezzlement of public funds”. The judges of the Paris court are seeking to determine whether parliamentary collaborators of the MoDem in the European Parliament were paid by funds from Brussels when they were in fact assigned to other tasks for centrist training.