French Labour Minister Woerth receives death threat

The city hall of Chantilly received a bullet in the mail Friday, along with a letter threatening mayor Eric Woerth, who is also the French Labour Minister involved in an influence scandal that dates back to when he was Budget minister.

Reuters

City hall workers opened the envelope, which contained a small-calibre bullet and a letter addressed to Woerth. The letter included “intimidation threats”, according to an investigator talking to French newspaper Parisien, without giving more details.

AFP / TF1

Woerth, who has been accused of taking bribes when he was Budget minister and helping weathly people pay fewer taxes was not at city hall when the letter arrived.

Police are investigating the threat. From the end of 2008 to the middle of 2009, dozens of threatening letters, some accompanied by bullets, were sent to various ministers or right-wing politicians, including President Nicolas Sarkozy, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, and former ministers Rachida Dati, Michele Alliot-Marie and Christine Albanel, when they were in their positions.

A 51-year-old disabled man, a member of a shooting club in the Hérault region, admitted to sending the threats and was arrested in September 2009, and was released a month later under judicial control.