L’Acorn:
“Between 2005 and 2008, during which time she served as both MP and county councillor in the southern Bouches-du-Rhône region, Andrieux is said to have siphoned off some 740,000 euros of public funds. According to prosecutors, Andrieux knowingly allocated grants to phoney associations, which were fashioned to look like social outfits for disadvantaged youths or deprived neighbourhoods. Those funds were then used to sweeten voters in return for their support at the polls.
But while many would dismiss the Andrieux vote-buying affair as something typical of Marseille – where a history of banditry has left the city with an unshakeable reputation for delinquency – for local journalist Legrand, the problem is not endemic to the south of France. “This is going on all over the country,” he argued. “The only difference in Marseille is that politicians don’t bother to cover their tracks properly.” Legrand attributes this carelessness to a “general acceptance of corruption” in the region.”