Misappropriation of public funds: an open investigation targeting an RN deputy

The RN deputy for the fourth constituency of Aisne José Beaurain is the subject of a preliminary investigation for embezzlement of public funds, we learned on Tuesday from the Laon prosecutor.

“The investigations are ongoing and have been entrusted to the Aisne gendarmerie group,” said the prosecution, recalling that “at this stage, the person concerned is presumed innocent.”

According to revelations published at the end of August by Le Canard chainé, and firmly denied by Mr. Beaurain, the elected official would have notably used part of the envelope of 15,000 euros allocated to him as a blind deputy (compared to 10,000 for the other deputies) to pay bonuses to his collaborators, the latter of whom had to pay him half in cash. The elected official also, according to the satirical newspaper, hired and paid double a friend so that the latter would pay half of his income to Mr. Beaurain's brother.

The elected official contests the accusations and files a complaint

The RN deputy told AFP, a few days after the publication of the article, that he had filed a complaint for “defamation, breach of trust and abuse of weakness against a vulnerable person as well as for theft of documents”.

“I refute all of the comments made against me in the press by three former collaborators with whom I was in conflict, and who have wanted to harm me in every possible way for two years now,” he declared at the time.