The historic mayor of Issy-les-Moulineaux (Hauts-de-Seine) André Santini is the target of two complaints from two town hall employees for “sexual assault” and “sexual and moral harassment”, AFP learned on Friday from from the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office, confirming information from Le Monde.
These two complaints against the 81-year-old elected official were filed Friday before the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office and are “currently under study”, confirmed the public prosecutor’s office, requested by AFP.
According to Le Monde, his former chief of staff and a former bailiff accuse Mr. Santini of harassment and sexual assault, facts dating in particular from 2021 and 2022.
Former Secretary of State for the Public Service (2007-2009) and ex-MP, André Santini (1988-2017) is UDI mayor of Issy-les-Moulineaux, a city of nearly 70,000 inhabitants in south-west Paris, since 1980. He has also been vice-president of Greater Paris and head of the Syndicat des eaux d’Ile-de-France since 1983.
“I have known Mr. Santini for seventeen years, we have never had any complaint lodged against him on the behavior attributed to him,” the mayor’s lawyer, Me Marc Bellanger, told AFP, specifying unaware of the details of the charges.
“I think this is a campaign of revenge by these agents vis-à-vis the mayor, with whom there is a dispute. They are not happy with their administrative situation and have filed a complaint,” said Mr. Bellanger continued.
“I naturally deny having had the slightest behavior as described in the complaints. In forty years of good and loyal service, I have never been imputed or accused of such behavior”, replied Mr. Santini to the World.
Contacted by AFP, the plaintiffs’ lawyer did not react immediately.
According to Le Monde, the two complainants were dismissed by the mayor in mid-May, officially for “breaking the bonds of trust necessary for our collaboration”.
01/07/2022 22:54:21 – Nanterre (AFP) – © 2022 AFP
