Since July 2021, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has been running a preliminary investigation into a case of misappropriation of public funds, including aiding and concealment. These acts are thought to have been committed in 2018 and 2019, and relate to the suspected fictitious employment of a European Parliamentary Assistant.
The Bordeaux Public Prosecutor’s Office reported these facts to the EPPO in July 2021, based on an alert by the French anti-corruption association Anticor. This report concerned Mr Jacques COLOMBIER, Member of the European Parliament at the time of the facts, and Ms Edwige DIAZ, who was employed by him on a position of local parliamentary assistant at the time.
As part of the investigations conducted by the European Delegated Prosecutors from the EPPO’s Paris office, searches, authorised by a judge of freedoms of detention, were carried out on 5 December 2022. The premises of the French National Assembly and premises in Bordeaux and the surrounding region were searched to enable the discovery of any information relevant to establishing the facts.
Investigations have been entrusted to the Financial Judicial Investigation Service, which conducts them under the direction of the EPPO.
In accordance with the national applicable law, Mr Jacques COLOMBIER and Ms Edwige DIAZ are entitled to the presumption of innocence.
