The Albi Correctional Court, in Tarn (France), has sentenced a former secretary of a small town hall to 18 months in prison, nine of them suspended, accused of embezzling 140,000 euros. During her trial, held on November 21, the luxuries that the accused allowed herself at the expense of the municipality were detailed: bottles of champagne, computers, household appliances and even refueling her personal car.
The plot was discovered thanks to an oversight. In 2023, the mayor of Mirandol, a quiet municipality in the Occitanie region, mistakenly received the notice from one of the suppliers the defendant had turned to. Upon investigation, he discovered that the invoices charged to the public coffers had no relation to municipal needs, which raised all the alarms.
Although certain suspicions had already arisen in 2017, these did not materialize until an investigation was completed that revealed that his secretary, who had been in office since 2015, was responsible for the purchases. The confidence she inspired, a mother of three children and a native of Normandy, prevented the rumors from spreading. But the email sent by the provider in 2023 turned out to be the key that ended years of abuse.
According to investigations, the accused used public money to receive goods at her home and also at her workplace. Among your purchases, according to includes high-end furniture, electronics and appliances. In addition, he used part of the municipal funds to fill the tank of his car. The councilor of Mirandol, still surprised by the extent of the embezzlement, did not hide his disappointment after the trial: “We trusted her. We never thought she could do something like that,” he commented.
The sentence establishes that the former secretary will serve her prison sentence under electronic surveillance. In addition, he has been banned from working for the next ten years in any position involving fund management or accounting. You will also have to compensate the affected municipality. As a result of this case, the accused lost her status as a territorial public official and was fired from the other two municipalities for which she worked.
