Following the publication in yesterday’s edition of Nice Matin of an interview with the First Deputy Mayor of Nice, Benoît KANDEL, regarding the summons of the General Director of Semiacs to the Correctional Court, Christian ESTROSI, Mayor of Nice and President of the Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur, who was unaware of this initiative, believes that the statements made by Benoît KANDEL, which questioned the police and the justice system, prevent him from effectively performing his duties as the deputy in charge of security in good harmony with the State services.
In the general interest of the City and to preserve this essential harmony in the fight against delinquency, Christian ESTROSI has decided to assume this delegation himself, allowing Benoît KANDEL to freely testify before the judicial authorities. A City Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 3, 2013, to ratify this decision.
He was the shining star of Christian Estrosi’s 2008 electoral campaign: A former colonel of the national gendarmerie as a security deputy—who could claim better? Not to mention his competence and seriousness, which earned him a promotion to the position of first deputy when Eric Ciotti left the position vacant to take over the chair of President of the General Council. And now, a step backward and a transition from light to disgrace!
While the Mayor’s statement appears deliberately diplomatic, it is, in reality, a true coup de grâce! A red card without appeal! He will now have “complete freedom to testify freely before the judicial authorities,” as Christian Estrosi states in true Vaticanese. And all this for an interview whose reason, timing, and tone are difficult to understand.
Certainly, the General Director (GD) of Semiacs (of which Benoit Kandel is the Chairman of the Board) Henri Alonzo, is due to appear next Tuesday before the correctional court for harassment and sexual assault. The first UMP deputy to the mayor of Nice counterattacks.
Benoit Kandel certainly has the right to report “anomalies” in this judicial process, but he only has an indirect role (as the president of his general director) in this morals case, and if the prosecution did not consider his testimony essential in the framework of the investigation, it is rather curious that he denounces it to the point of writing to the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Interior.
Certainly, Benoit Kandel has the right to publicly share his actions and thoughts, but frankly, this deserved a confession more than an interview with the local newspaper, and that too without informing the Mayor of Nice?
Still, the approach seems difficult to understand on more than one level.
First, for the cultural and professional background of Benoit Kandel, a Saint-Cyrien, a brilliant military man, accustomed to hierarchy and little inclined to media exposure.
Secondly, for the obvious lack of interest in this action. Write to two Ministers to signify not being heard by the Police and the Prosecutor in a morals case in which he is not involved? To say what? To justify or accuse whom? And finally, to do it with the flair of an interview that, obviously, would be read by everyone, including the Mayor (are we really to believe only after its publication?). Without prejudging Benoit Kandel’s emotional balance, this is what you call a great slip, unless it was a trap he didn’t see open under his feet.
Moreover, did the same future ex-first deputy and security manager not know that his star had faded for some time and that some friends (It is always them at work in these cases) had him in their sights with the elections of 2014 in mind?
For these good intentions, this interview could not have come at a better time: Here is an act that goes straight back to its author. Words sometimes strike better than a dagger!
Good positions make people envious, and they are good to take, and even better if they are vacant.
To think that Benoit Kandel may have slipped on a banana peel is only a step away. Unfortunately, it’s the classic incident: You pay attention to the wall because it’s in front of you, and you don’t look at the ground where the trap is. Nevertheless, the curiosity remains: What hand accidentally “dropped” this musaceous peel?
The meeting at the City Council on September 3 is to observe those who will seem genuinely sorry.
