Improper use of municipal services
Improper use of municipal services
You are right, it is absolutely unacceptable for an employee, civil servant or magistrate to use his authority and the human resources of the public body he serves to obtain services that benefit him personally! Such behaviour, from a purely contractual point of view, constitutes a breach of the duty of care that an employee owes to his employer - whether public or private - which may lead to sanctions under employment law or the law governing the status of civil servants. In addition, under criminal law, anyone who, by virtue of the law, an official mandate or a legal act, is required to look after the financial interests of others or their management and who, in breach of his or her duties, harms those interests or allows them to be harmed, will be punished by a custodial sentence of up to three years or a fine. The Federal Court has long held that the employment of part of a company's staff by its manager for his own account constitutes an act of disloyal management punishable under Article 158 of the Criminal Code. Furthermore, according to our federal judges, a municipal councillor acts as a guarantor for the municipality that elected him. That being the case, such a position is not absolute, but it does impose obligations in the area of activity in which the person in question actually enjoys autonomous power of disposal. It would therefore be necessary to carry out a more detailed analysis to determine whether a public prosecutor would be in a position to open a criminal investigation on the basis of the facts you describe, in that it would be necessary to examine whether the councillor to whom you are referring had in fact abused his powers to the detriment of his municipality and for his own benefit.
