Gilles d'Ettore case in Agde: “We wonder who will be next”, a new Eiffage executive in pre-trial detention

A third person has just been placed in pre-trial detention in connection with the Ettore affair in Agde. Many in the local entrepreneurial community are wondering who will be next on the list.

Thursday March 21, it was a thunderclap that resounded in the seaside resort of Agde with the arrest, then the placement in pre-trial detention of the mayor. ;nbsp;and president of the Agglo Hérault Méditerranée, Gilles d'Ettore and a clairvoyant, Sophia Martinez, who would have greatly influenced her in her decisions. Both are suspected of: "corruption, fraud, illegal taking of interest, embezzlement of public funds and concealment." Friday March 29, the revelation by Midi Libre of the placement in police custody of an Eiffage executive, had the effect of a bomb.

Comments and concerns

And at the end of the day, at the Raoul Barrière stadium in Béziers, few were really attentive to the rubistic confrontation between ASBH and the Basques of Biarritz. In the stands we only talked about the arrest of the executive of this large company. So this Sunday, March 31, upon learning of the incarceration of the director "Eiffage routes" which oversees three departments, and the placement under judicial control of one of its subordinates, comments and concerns are rife. But with the greatest discretion.

"They were indicted on charges of breach of trust, forgery and use of forgery. One of them was also indicted for active corruption and his subordinate for complicity in corruption, confirmed the public prosecutor of Béziers, Raphaël Balland.

"We wonder who will be next"

"This story is crazy, insists a construction contractor, it was grand puppet, crazy with the story of the clairvoyant. It went around France as it was something unthinkable for an elected official of this rank who was known for having his feet on the ground, his head on his shoulders. There, with the history of Eiffage it goes a long way. We wonder who will be next. We have all, or almost all, worked in Agde… Many people don't really laugh anymore. It's a real soap opera." 

Another goes much more frankly to take the temperature. "You have information ? There are only construction companies that are targeted ? The police are interested in ’ other communities, to public companies ?" We clearly feel the excitement that can reign in the local business environment and in which, if the& rsquo;we do not lend our future to the visions of a clairvoyant, we indulge in numerous fantasies and we self-feed our fears.

"Gilles d'Ettore is being let go by his family"

On the side of elected officials, there is the same desire for discretion. "Of course, we can always return to politics. But there, it must be admitted, it will be very difficult for d'Ettore. But the lion is not dead, no one will speak out publicly. Whatever happens, Gilles d'Ettore is being let go by his people. Nothing will be said publicly. Many feel betrayed by the chosen one, even if for the moment he is still innocent, the worm is in the fruit. They are afraid for the place that Ettore has assured them and they fear seeing another political force take back the city. Only d’Ettore managed to contain the RN. There, I am convinced that they are not calm at all. And Thursday's municipal council meeting will be explosive", assures this elected official from a neighboring town.

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