French Labour Minister on trial for favouritism

French Labour Minister Olivier Dussopt becomes the second sitting minister to go on trial on Monday at the Paris criminal court. He is accused of favouritism when awarding a public contract when he was the mayor of a small town in 2009.

French Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt. © Thibault Camus/AP

Dussopt is accused of having passed on privileged information to the Saur water company bidding for a €5.6 million contract in 2009, when he was mayor of Annonay, in the Ardeche, in southeast of France.

He also allegedly modified the evaluation criteria to favour the company, which had been managing the town's water since 1994, but whose proposal was more expensive than other companies.

Dussopt has denied any wrongdoing, and is going to court “to prove I acted in good faith", he told France 3 public television earlier this month in a rare declaration about the trial, which he has tried to avoid addressing publicly.

The financial crimes prosecutor opened an investigation in 2020, after the investigative website Mediapart looked into links between Dussopt and a local manager of the Saur company during a renegotiation of the contract in 2017.

Appointed labor minister in 2022, Dussopt presented and defended the controversial pension reform that sparked nationwide protests earlier this year.

He and the Saur group’s former director general, Olivier Brousse, will be on trial through Thursday. If convicted, each faces up to two years in prison and a €30,000 fine.

The trial comes as a special court is due to rule on whether Justice Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti used his position to settle personal scores.

His trial before the Court of Justice of the Republic, which tries wrongdoing by members of the government, ended on 17 November.

Dussopt is not facing that court because the alleged favouritism occurred when he was mayor, and not a government minister.

(with newswires)