The short stint of Georges-François Leclerc, prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône with a muscular grip and scathing words, left its mark in Marseille. But no one could suspect that an action by the man who became Emmanuel Macron’s chief of staff on October 29, 2025 would subsequently shake up the current municipal campaign. The online newspaper Blast revealedTuesday February 2, that the prefect Leclerc had, a few weeks before his departure for the Elysée, sent a report to the public prosecutor of Marseille.

In this letter dated September 15, 2025, accompanied, according to the media, by two USB keys containing documents, the senior official denounces potential “offenses against criminal law and in particular crimes of favoritism” which were allegedly committed by the Société publique des écoles marseillaises (SPEM).

The structure, created and co-piloted by the State and the municipality, manages the renovation of 188 educational establishments to the tune of 1.8 billion euros, with the financial support of the Marseille en grand plan. This SPEM is chaired by the various left-wing mayor, Benoît Payan, vying for re-election, and counts among its administrators the prefect of the department but also the sub-prefect responsible for monitoring the presidential plan.