A minister in office referred to the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), it is totally unprecedented. Eric Dupond-Moretti, Minister of Justice, was told on Monday, October 3, by the magistrates of the investigating commission, his referral to this criminal court to be tried for “illegal taking of interests”. This offense is punishable by five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 euros. This dismissal decision, which closes the investigation opened in January 2021, is anything but a surprise. But it risks making the situation of the Keeper of the Seals more and more uncomfortable.
Considering the appeal in cassation that this litigant like no other intends to make against the order for reference, the trial before this court intended to judge ministers or former ministers for crimes or misdemeanors committed in the exercise of their functions should not be held before the end of 2023. Eric Dupond-Moretti has always hinted that he would not resign, repeating that he holds his legitimacy from the President of the Republic. Tuesday, September 27, during the presentation of the ministry’s 2023 budget, he said that this procedure, which earned him an indictment in July 2021 “No [l’]never prevented from working”.
The investigation commission of the CJR, made up of three magistrates of the Court of Cassation, therefore considers in conclusion of its work that the charges brought together are sufficient to characterize the offense of “illegal taking of interests”. According to Article 432-12 of the Penal Code, in its wording prior to the reform of December 2021, it is for a person holding public authority to “take, receive or retain, directly or indirectly, any interest whatsoever in a company or in an operation for which it is, at the time of the act, in whole or in part, responsible for ensuring the supervision [ou] l’administration ».
Settle accounts
The Minister of Justice is accused of having, a few weeks after his appointment Place Vendôme, ordered, at the General Inspectorate of Justice, administrative investigations, a preliminary step to disciplinary proceedings, against magistrates with whom he had been in opposition as a lawyer. The anti-corruption association Anticor and the two main magistrates’ unions, the Union Syndicale des Magistrates and the Syndicat de la Magistrature, had filed a complaint with the CJR in the fall of 2020 against the minister, whom they accused of having used his prerogatives to settle his accounts.
You have 65.72% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.