French senator Joël Guerriau, 66, was arrested by police on November 15 on suspicion of having drugged a woman with the aim of having sex with her.
Ecstasy was allegedly found in his Paris home and office and reportedly found in the woman’s blood. The senator’s police custody was extended on the evening of November 16, RMC reports.
The alleged victim, who reportedly became unwell when visiting the Guerriau’s home, is said to be a member of parliament and a friend of the senator.
The female, whose identity has not been confirmed, allegedly had a drink with him on Tuesday night before collapsing. She was then taken to hospital where tests revealed the presence of ecstasy in her system.
According to the Paris public prosecutor’s office, the woman filed a complaint for “administering to a person, without their knowledge, a substance of such a nature as to impair their discernment or control over their actions for the purpose of committing rape or sexual assault”.
Guerriau is one of 18 Independents in the French upper house and a member of the centrist Horizons party.
If found guilty, he faces up to five years of jail and a fine of €75,000.
The public prosecutor’s office said Guerriau was apprehended and taken into custody by officers as part of a flagrante delicto investigation, which means they do not need to request his parliamentary immunity to be lifted.
Guerriau’s lawyer Rémi-Pierre Drai stated that he was “outraged to see sections of the probe make the news”.
“So either the public prosecutor’s office is responsible for this and I’m outraged by that once again, or the public prosecutor’s office has nothing to do with it and must therefore question the identity of the perpetrator of this violation and investigate,” he added.
“On the substance of the case, I will not give any information, not only because I am bound by the confidentiality of the investigation, but above all out of respect for my client and for the complainant, whose name I am surprised has not been disclosed, unlike that of my client.”
Guerriau has been the centrist senator for Loire Atlantique since 2011. He is vice-president of the Senate’s foreign and military affairs committee.
He is also no stranger to controversy. In December 2016, an explicit image of his penis, a so-called dick pick, was shared on his Twitter account, now X.
Initially, the elected official labelled it an “act of malice” and claimed his account had been hacked.
Despite initially expressing intentions to file a complaint he later abandoned the idea, citing an “internal resolution” and attributing the tweet to a “mistake by one of his staff”.