Electoral fraud in Bastia: three suspects referred to criminal court over 2020 municipal elections
Three prominent figures from Bastia's 2020 municipal campaign are being referred to criminal court on suspicion of electoral fraud. Five other people have been granted a discharge without conviction.
Operation Victoria: justice refers three Bastia candidates to criminal court
Google News FR — Crime (fr) reports that the judiciary has partially ruled in the Operation Victoria case, linked to the 2020 municipal elections in Bastia. Jean-Sébastien de Casalta, François Tatti and Frédéric Poletti are referred to criminal court. Five other people have been granted a discharge without conviction.
The case dates back to the second round run-off of the 2020 municipal elections. Suspicions of electoral fraud concern gift baskets distributed during lockdown through an association named Victoria. Six years after the events, the judicial court in Paris — the jurisdiction to which the case was transferred — issued an order that Ici RCFM has reviewed.
Three campaign figures targeted
Jean-Sébastien de Casalta, the top candidate in the election, his running mate François Tatti, former president of the Bastia Agglomeration Community (CAB), and Frédéric Poletti, former campaign director, are suspected of obtaining votes in exchange for donations in the form of meal baskets.
Jean-André Albertini, lawyer for François Tatti, clarifies that "the most serious allegation, a misappropriation of masks, has not been established". The matter concerning the meal baskets remains, and the three suspects will have to answer for these facts before the criminal court. François Tatti is additionally prosecuted for having used positions at the CAB "with a view to influencing the vote", according to the order. Maître Camille Romani, lawyer for Jean-Sébastien de Casalta, did not respond to requests for comment from the editorial staff.
Five discharges granted
Among the five people benefiting from discharge without conviction is Fabrice Rallo, former director of cabinet at the CAB. His lawyer Jean-François Casalta expressed satisfaction with the decision, whilst regretting the length of the proceedings. According to him, the judicial institution "took time to establish that his client had nothing to do with the allegations against him".
The trial date for the three suspects has not yet been set. The public prosecutor retains the possibility of appealing the discharges granted.
A broader judicial context around Bastia's 2020 municipal elections
Operation Victoria is not the only proceeding stemming from Bastia's 2020 municipal election. In 2024, Fabienne Giovannini, then president of Corsica's Public Housing Office and close to the municipal majority, was found guilty of attempted interference with electoral integrity. Letters sent to tenants of social housing "praised the action of Gilles Simeoni", according to the findings retained by the court. She did not appeal.
That same year, two deputy mayors under Pierre Savelli, then mayor of Bastia, were convicted of fraudulent schemes that compromised electoral integrity in a case concerning proxy votes. These two elected officials did appeal their convictions.
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)