A French senator was questioned in Paris on Thursday and suspected of drugging a member of parliament for sexual assault, AFP learned from a source familiar with the matter, confirming information from RMC.
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed the detention of Joël Guerriau in police custody because he “gave a person, without his knowledge, a substance capable of impairing his judgment or control over his actions in order to commit rape or sexual assault.”
The incidents allegedly occurred on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday and the victim, “a woman, filed a report.”
Joël Guerriau is a banker by profession and has been elected to the High Assembly since 2011. He is Secretary of the Senate and Vice President of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Services. He is Les Indépendants (center right) from Loire-Atlantique in western France.
Two sources close to the case confirmed to AFP that the victim was a deputy, but the prosecutor’s office declined to comment on the matter.
The victim is said to have felt ill after drinking something on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday in the Paris home of the 66-year-old senator, with whom she does not have a close relationship, the public prosecutor’s office confirmed.
Samples from her body revealed the presence of ecstasy, which the Paris public prosecutor’s office further confirmed and the woman then filed a complaint.
According to prosecutors, Mr. Guerriau was arrested on Thursday and taken into police custody as part of the investigation launched in flagranti, a procedure that means he does not have to ask for his parliamentary immunity to be lifted.
RMC mentions searches of the elected official’s home, during which investigators found ecstasy, as well as the senator’s office, which prosecutors confirmed.