French minister faces misconduct probe

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS (AA) - A French government minister close to the president is facing investigation over possible nepotism and conflicts of interest in a property deal.

Eric Mathais, a Brittany public prosecutor, said Thursday that the probe aims to determine whether Richard Ferrand, the minister of territorial cohesion, has broken any laws.

Last week the prosecutor had initially decided against an inquiry, arguing there were no legal grounds to do so.

Satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine and daily Le Monde reported that when Ferrand headed a nonprofit health insurance fund in his native Brittany -- where he is an MP -- both his ex-wife and current business partner won contracts from the fund and benefitted from lucrative deals.

Ferrand, for his part, has denied any wrongdoing and argued the deals followed the law.

He has refused to step down from the Cabinet, after being named to it only two weeks ago. Both President Emmanuel Macron and his prime minister, Edouard Philippe, have expressed their backing.

Le Canard Enchaine further reported that Ferrand, 54, had also hired his son as a parliamentary assistant, drawing comparisons to the Francois Fillon fake jobs scandal.

The leader of Macron's LREM movement rejected the comparison, saying that his son was employed for only four months, at 1,266.16 euros per month, when another parliamentary assistant had to step down on short notice for serious health reasons.

"I obviously see that today…there is a total rejection of the idea that a parliamentarian would hire someone close to him. I wouldn’t do it again," Ferrand told Franceinfo.

European Affairs Minister Marielle de Sarnez is also among 19 French MEPs facing misconduct allegations over hiring an assistant at the European Parliament.

The embarrassing controversy comes as the government is to unveil on Thursday a bill aimed at cleaning up French politics, before crucial legislative elections this month.

During his campaign, Macron vowed to fight corruption in politics.

The bill, suggested and sought by Macron's ally, Democratic Movement Party head and current justice minister, Francois Bayrou, includes "the prohibition of nepotism for parliamentarians," especially in the wake of Fillon’s scandal.

Under the law, elected members and ministers would be banned from hiring family members.