Storm Xynthia conman arrested
Convicted conman spent five days 'helping' with the clear-up operation before he was recognised and caught by police
A SERIAL fraudster who posed as an Agriculture Ministry worker in the storm-hit Charente-Maritime has been arrested.
Philippe Berre, 56, spent five days working with local officials in Charron before he was recognised and caught by police.
He travelled in a stolen Forestry Office 4x4 with false number plates and presented a fake business card to the mairie, saying he had been sent to help with the clean-up and rebuilding operation.
According to the Sud-Ouest, during his short time working for the town council he contacted 10 local companies and placed orders for cleaning and sweeping equipment totalling €55,000 - orders that have now all been cancelled.
The owner of a petrol station in the area provided him with free petrol after he showed a fake requisition letter from the Agriculture Ministry. The full extent of the financial damage he has caused - and his motivations for doing so - are not yet clear.
Berre was sentenced to five years in prison last November for similar fraud attempts in the Aude but walked free from court and had not been seen since.
In 1997 he started a five-year prison sentence for posing as the boss of a large building contractor and persuading local officials in Le Mans to give him the contract to build a 2km stretch of motorway. The story inspired a film by Xavier Giannoli, A L'Origine, in which he is played by François Cluzet.
