The controversy surrounding Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo's trip to Tahiti last fall is taking a judicial turn. Searches have been underway since the morning of Tuesday, March 5, at Paris City Hall and its annexes, Le Monde has learned. The operations carried out by investigators from Paris's judicial police were confirmed by a judicial source.
They are part of a preliminary investigation into charges of "conflict of interest and misappropriation of public funds," opened by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF), following a complaint filed in mid-November 2023 by an organization, AC !! Anti-Corruption, and "several reports from advisers to the Paris Council and the Ile-de-France region." Paris City Hall did not respond to requests for comments.
The case concerns a three-week trip by Hidalgo to the Pacific, from October 16 to November 5, 2023, which raised questions about public money possibly being used for private business. The stated aim of the trip to New Caledonia and Tahiti was to deepen cultural relations with these two French territories in the Pacific, and to visit the Olympic surfing venue of Teahupoo in Tahiti – something she was in the end unable to do due to local tensions. The controversy was heightened by the fact that Hidalgo extended her one-week official stay with a fortnight's private vacation on a Polynesian island with her family.
Questions quickly arose about the cost of her trip to the other side of the world, estimated at €59,500 by the City of Paris. That cost encompassed expenses for the five staff members who accompanied her. Questioned by Le Parisien in November, Hidalgo's entourage explained that all return tickets were paid for by the city, but later asserted that the mayor had "paid for [hers] out of her own funds, before the delegation left" – a claim that Le Monde was able to confirm. The return journeys of two members of the delegation, who had also decided to stay on site for a few extra days in a private capacity, are said to have been paid for by the city.
City Hall's ethics committee had cleared the mayor on November 10. "The public part of the trip made by Ms. Anne Hidalgo, in her capacity as mayor of Paris, (...) is directly linked to the interests of the City of Paris, both in terms of its objects and meetings with various authorities," the committee wrote, deeming the Socialist politician's travels "ethically regular."
Nonetheless, the local opposition continued to attack the mayor. "This case is not closed," reacted Rachida Dati, the conservative mayor of the 7th arrondissement, on November 14. Accusing Hidalgo of "refusing" to disclose all the expenses incurred for the trip, Dati, her main opponent, felt that it was up to the courts to examine the case to rule on "the legality of this trip, for Hidalgo and the members of the delegation."
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