The Thierry Mandon period is not yet over at the Cité du design in Saint-Étienne. Four years after the departure of the former Secretary of State from the management of the establishment, the new governance of the EPCC Cité du design-Ésadse has initiated a legal audit relating in particular to the award of several public contracts. This procedure led to the precautionary suspension, on September 21, of Jean-Yves Gauchier, secretary general of the establishment since 2012.
Arriving in June as president of the EPCC, Yannis Bekhti, deputy mayor of Saint-Étienne in charge of design, explains that he launched a general review of the operation of the establishment before the summer. Around fifty people – agents, students, management and general secretariat – were interviewed and numerous documents analyzed. According to the president, this work revealed “questions regarding the award of certain public contracts”. The verifications particularly relate to the years 2018 to 2022, which correspond to the management of Thierry Mandon.
Jean-Yves Gauchier already occupied the general secretariat during this period. Its suspension is presented by the establishment as a precautionary measure: it constitutes neither a definitive sanction nor the establishment of criminal liability. On September 21, on the sidelines of the municipal council, the mayor of Saint-Étienne, Régis Juanico, indicated that the secretary general had “recognized a certain number of things” during his hearings. According to the elected official, the current procedures could, depending on their conclusions, lead to a report to the public prosecutor’s office under article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure or to a complaint being filed by Saint-Étienne Métropole.
The investigation comes four years after the financial and legal crisis experienced by the Cité du design in 2022. The establishment had at the time posted a deficit of 1.4 million euros, leading to the Metropolis voting for an exceptional subsidy of an equivalent amount. Its then president, Marc Chassaubéné, ordered an audit and then made a report to the prosecutor regarding the management of Thierry Mandon, who had just left general management.
This procedure resulted in November 2024 in the conviction of the former Secretary of State to twelve months in prison, a fine of 22,000 euros and a definitive ban on chairing or managing a public establishment. The Saint-Étienne criminal court found him guilty in particular of fraud, misuse of corporate property, forgery and use of forgery and attempted misappropriation of public property for acts committed between 2019 and 2021. In question, around 20,000 euros used in particular for a staircase at his home, train tickets and a trip to China that was ultimately canceled. Thierry Mandon abandoned his appeal in May 2025, making his conviction final.
The markets currently examined cannot, however, given the information available, be assimilated to the facts for which Thierry Mandon was convicted. Their nature, amount and the service providers concerned have not been made public. The audit nevertheless reactivates a subject already raised by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Audit Chamber. In its previous audit of the Cité du design, completed in 2020, it had devoted part of its investigations to public procurement, governance, human resources and the creation of the EPCC commercial subsidiary. Jean-Yves Gauchier was then heard, the same day and jointly with Thierry Mandon.
A second part of the current investigation also concerns the internal functioning of the Higher School of Art and Design. Yannis Bekhti says he was alerted to a “degraded social climate” and . This administrative investigation is distinct from the public procurement audit. Pending the outcome of the procedures, the interim general secretariat has been entrusted to Séverine Tardy, deputy general director of Saint-Étienne Métropole.
