A mayor has been charged with bribery after he allegedly spent £43,000 from public coffers to buy a scandalous video of a political rival giving a prostitute an “erotic massage” in an attempt to blackmail him.
Gaël Perdriau, a 50-year-old French politician who runs the city of Saint-Etienne, has been accused of using the secret recording to manipulate his rival and one-time deputy, Gilles Artigues, over a period of eight years.
The mayor allegedly took 50,000 euros (£43,000) from public funds to pay for the raunchy footage, which was filmed in 2015 in a Paris hotel.
READ MORE: 'Crypto King', 24, 'kidnapped and tortured' after 'spending £13m of investors' money'
The mayor, who refused to resign from his post despite the explosive scandal he is at the centre of, was charged on Thursday (April 6) by local prosecutors after spending two days in police custody,the Mail reported.
The footage of Artigues, a married father of four and practising Catholic known for his conservative views, was allegedly filmed on a hidden GoPro camera which belonged to the council of the city, which has a population of 400,000.
Artigues did not deny it was him in the video, instead claiming that a drink he had that night was spiked.
In what is understood to be a recording of a conversation in the mayor's office in 2017, published by French investigative outletMediapart, Perdriau was heard threatening his former deputy while his chief of staff, Pierre Gauttieri, told him his children will “never recover”.
'New Tindler swindler cons stunning Brazilian models out of thousands of pounds'
Mediapart reported that in one meeting, Gauttieri warned Artigues: “I've got a video showing your bum in the air with a bloke. Doesn't that worry you?”
Artigues' lawyer Andre Buffard told the Associated French Press: “A decisive stage has passed which demonstrates that Gilles Artigues has been a victim of organised bribery, which is what he said from the beginning.
“We can't pre-judge who ordered it, but there are serious and corroborated indications pointing to the mayor of Saint-Etienne."
To get more stories from Daily Star delivered straight to your inbox sign up to one of our free newsletters here.
READ NEXT:
- Russia's 'Benidorm' resort decimated by Putin's war with mines and trenches on beach
- Russia charges journalist with spying for US after 'writing about Wagner'
- Two Brit sisters killed after gunman opens fire on family car injuring mum
Source: Read Full Article