Ministers deny connection to drugs baron

Gerald Darminin. Photo:  EglantineD
Gerald Darminin. Photo: EglantineD

Gérald Darmanin, France’s Minister of Public Accounts, and Sébastien Lecornu, Secretary of State to the Minister in charge of Energy Transition, have reacted angrily to reports they acted improperly in renting a villa in Corsica.

Mediapart, the investigative news website, claimed that the two men rented a villa belonging to Christelle Godani, Miss Corse 1993 and a close friend of the former President of the Ajaccio Chamber of Commerce, Gilbert Casanova, who was also described as an owner of the property.

This “ex-drug trafficker”, according to Mediapart, was sentenced in March 2005 to three years in prison for “abuse of social goods” and “fraudulent bankruptcy”. A few years later, the Correctional Court of Marseille sentenced him to eight years in prison for organising cannabis traffic between Morocco and France.

According to Mediapart, the rent of the 180-sqm villa was €4,000 a week.

Darmanin and Lecornu were quick to react. In a Facebook post, they said they are considering a lawsuit against Mediapart for defamation. The two ministers said they booked the villa with friends via the homeholidays.com website, “like millions of French”.


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