Crime & Justice 2 min read 4h ago

Saint-Denis Mayor Faces Fraud Inquiry

France's financial prosecutor has opened a preliminary inquiry into Saint-Denis LFI mayor Bally Bagayoko over alleged misuse of public funds.
The investigation examines how Bagayoko simultaneously held a senior RATP post and multiple local elected mandates over several years.
Bagayoko has denied the allegations, calling them a politically motivated attempt to discredit him; no charges have been filed.

The La France Insoumise (LFI) mayor of Saint-Denis, Bally Bagayoko, is the subject of a preliminary investigation opened by France's Parquet national financier (PNF) into suspected misuse of public funds, the financial prosecutor's office confirmed on Monday 24 August.

What the inquiry concerns

According to the PNF, the investigation centres on the conditions under which Bagayoko simultaneously held a senior post at the RATP — the Paris public transport authority — and several local elected mandates over a number of years. The parquet said the preliminary inquiry would serve to carry out "the necessary verifications concerning the conditions of employment" of the mayor at the transport operator.

Origins of the case

The inquiry follows a formal complaint lodged with the PNF by the anti-corruption association AC!! Anti-Corruption, itself acting on revelations published by investigative weekly Le Canard Enchaîné. Those revelations raised suspicions of fictitious employment — a scheme in which a public-sector salary is drawn for work that is not, or only nominally, carried out. No charges have been laid and the investigation remains at a preliminary stage.

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Responses from both sides

Marcel Claude, president of AC!! Anti-Corruption, told AFP he was "very satisfied" at the opening of the inquiry, stating that his association was motivated solely by concern for public money. He said he had "full confidence in the investigators and the justice of our country."

Bagayoko, for his part, has previously rejected the accusations, denouncing what he described as a deliberate effort to "discredit him politically." No formal response from him to the PNF announcement was available at the time of publication.

Significance

The case adds to a broader pattern of scrutiny surrounding elected officials in the Île-de-France region alleged to have drawn RATP salaries while simultaneously holding public mandates — a practice that has drawn sustained attention from anti-corruption campaigners. Similar questions of conduct by elected officials have resurfaced across Europe in recent months. Whether the preliminary inquiry will progress to a formal judicial investigation remains to be determined.

##BaIlyBagayoko ##SaintDenis ##PNF

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