Sextape blackmail in Saint-Etienne: Gaël Perdriau goes on leave from his duties in the metropolis – 20 Minutes

Gaël Perdriau, the LR mayor of Saint-Etienne, will delegate his functions as president to the Métropole, in connection with the sextape blackmail affair which has shaken his city since the end of August. But he remains president, says his cabinet. The elected 50-year-old will no longer perform his duties as an external representative. Nor will he chair the next metropolitan council scheduled for September 29, explains Christophe Faverjon, the communist mayor of Unieux. This solution is “the fruit of collective reflection” in “respect for justice and its rhythm” in the goal of “preserve the metropolis” from the disturbances linked to this recent affair of blackmail to the intimate video, specifies the elected official after a meeting of the vice-presidents of the metropolis. A tarnished image The image of the mayor of Saint-Etienne has been considerably tarnished by this blackmail case, currently under investigation, which broke out at the end of August when a former close to the municipality made very detailed confessions to the Mediapart site on a “Daubing of morals” sponsored according to him by the mayor and his entourage to neutralize the former centrist first deputy, Gilles Artigues. According to him, the operation was remunerated via fictitious services invoiced to two local cultural associations subsidized by the town hall. Last week, Gaël Perdriau had however displayed his “determination” to remain in office, deaf to the calls of those who asked him to take leave – local and national elected officials, in his camp and in the opposition, but also local economic actors. The city councilor was placed in police custody on September 13, at the same time as three other members of the municipal team. The judicial inquiry, opened in Lyon after a complaint from Gilles Artigues, concerns the production and use of this video shot in January 2015 in which we see this ex-MP known for his Catholic commitment and his homophobic positions , getting a massage from a man in a hotel room in Paris.