The collective sent a letter to the mayor and to the regional chamber of accounts. And wishes the invalidation of this decision.
The story could have gone unnoticed, We are determined to make a lot of noise. During the municipal council of February 8, a decision of the mayor, therefore not subject to validation by the assembly, made the citizen collective tick: an exemption of € 264,901, for the 2020 financial year of JCDecaux, a multinational advertising company and street furniture, is announced there.
Questioned during the session by Alenka Doulain, Michaël Delafosse justifies this decision by the “significant losses in the company’s turnover during the confinement period from March to May 2020”.
Michaël Delafosse’s “lies”
“From our point of view, the mayor of Montpellier answered us with a double lie, believes Sébastien Martarèche. By saying first that it was the case in all the other big metropolises. However, we checked and Lyon, Grenoble or Bordeaux did not. Then adding that it had been signed by his predecessor Philippe Saurel. This is also false since when we were finally able to obtain the rider, the signature was dated February 10, 2021.“
For NousSommes, these elements are sufficient not to stop there: “JCDecaux made a net profit of 265 M € in 2019. The sum of 264 000 € represents more than half of the money invested by Montpellier within the framework of the poverty plan. JCDecaux is one of the companies that have just been caught in the tax evasion bag during the OpenLux scandal “, list in particular the elected opposition Alenka Doulain.
We have good reason to believe that we may have a cancellation
A letter of free appeal was therefore sent Friday to the mayor of Montpellier to request that the amount of this exemption be returned to the finances of the community. Mail also sent to the regional chamber of accounts Occitanie to request clarification on the regularity of this exemption.
“We wonder about the reasons for this preferential treatment for the company JCDecaux. Despite our requests, there is no information allowing us to verify the real extent of this loss of turnover, nor any proof of the lack of perception of the rents by the company JCDecaux during the confinement were not provided to us “, thus specifies the letter of protest.
For NousSommes, this letter will in any case only be a first step: “The mayor has two months to respond to us, we expect from the citizen movement. In case of refusal to reverse his decision or lack of response, we will switch to the administrative court. And we have good ones. Reasons to think that we could have an annulment. The lawyers from whom we sought advice were also surprised that the decision was passed without being voted on. “ Case to follow.
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