The Court of Auditors imposes a fine of 277,000 euros on Manuel Valls
The former French prime minister was sanctioned for accepting third-party payments to fund his municipal campaign in Barcelona in 2019.
Manuel Valls in June 2019, in the middle of the municipal campaign in Barcelona.
AFP
Undeclared expenses and exceeding the authorized ceiling: the Spanish Court of Auditors imposed a fine of nearly 277,000 euros (272,000 francs) for irregularities in the campaign expenses in the 2019 Barcelona municipal elections of the former Prime Minister French Manuel Valls.
“Barcelona pel Canvi-Ciudadanos” (Barcelona for change), the former political group of Manuel Valls within the city council was fined 251,698 euros to which is added a sentence of 25,000 euros for exceeding the ceiling of the maximum limit of expenditure on outdoor .
In May 2019, Manuel Valls came fourth in the municipal elections in his hometown with the support of the anti-independence Liberal Party Ciudadanos, after the failure of his presidential ambitions in 2017 in France.
From fiasco to fiasco
The Tribunal des Comptes had noted in a report, in March 2021, undeclared campaign expenses for a total value of 189,497 euros. These funds came, for the most part, from the Barcelona Capital Europea Association, the platform on which Manuel Valls had presented his candidacy before forming a coalition with independents and members of Ciudadanos.
Used for the benefit of the electoral campaign, this money should have come from the coalition and not from the association, considered as “a third person”, underlined the report. In addition, the Tribunal des Comptes had also observed an overrun of the authorized spending limit, with 126,819 euros more than the authorized amount, i.e. an excess of 71.15%.
In June, Manuel Valls, invested by the presidential majority to represent the French abroad, particularly in Spain and Portugal, had been eliminated in the first round of the legislative elections, a new fiasco for the former Prime Minister who since discreet.
AFP
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