2023-09-08 17:38:13
The Valais Grand Council had to fight for Sébastien Fanti to hand over all his files to Lauris Loat, his successor as Valais data protection and transparency officer. Parliament has mandated a lawyer, reveals an RTS investigation
Officially, the Grand Council, which is the appointing authority of the officer, communicated on “a process completed satisfactorily”. But behind the scenes, the transition between the old and new attendant took a contentious turn.
Lauris Loat should have received all the documents from his predecessor, for his entry into office on January 1, 2023. But this was not the case, despite several requests addressed to Sébastien Fanti.
At the beginning of the year, the Grand Council called on a lawyer to try to resolve the situation.
Three months after the new official took office, the two parties ended the affair by signing an agreement. But it is impossible to know its content. The Grand Council did not communicate it to the RTS, despite a request for transparency, to which the former transparency officer also opposed.
Omerta
When Parliament handed over other documents to RTS, Sébastien Fanti invoked official secrecy not to answer the questions that arose from them. Official secret from which he was released, at his request, on Thursday, by a Grand Council, which has long advocated secrecy, so as not to add fuel to the fire.
It must be said that just before his departure, Sébastien Fanti did not spare the Grand Council, with whom he already had conflicting relations. In Le Temps, he affirmed that “mediocracy” reigned in the Valais parliament, “with 80% of deputies who understand nothing of what they decide.” A month later, he dug up an old story and accused, in a press release, the parliamentary services “of having made gross and extremely serious communication errors”.
Off the record, several politicians saw these statements as an attempt to put pressure on parliament, in the context of the contentious transition with the new official.
But Sébastien Fanti denies any pressure. Concerning his controversial comments in Le Temps, he said – through his lawyer – that he had “simply expressed a subjective feeling”.
And regarding the transition process, he believes “to have acted in a reasoned, efficient and legal manner, facilitating as much as possible the resumption of the function”.
A long history
Tensions between the former official and the Grand Council are not new. In Parliament, politicians have repeatedly criticized his style and his media omnipresence.
For his part, Sébastien Fanti often complained about his budget of 220,000 francs, which he found too low compared to other cantons. He asked for more money, which was systematically refused.
Budget increase refused
Eight months before his announced departure, he again proposed to the Grand Council to come back for another year, but for a budget of 550,000 francs, also including different training courses – including that of his successor – or even the transfer of rights and of equipment, which he said he had acquired outside his budget.
The Grand Council refused and elected, for four years, a new official who will have started his mandate in a tense context.
Romain Carrupt
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