The Minister of Justice and the chief of staff and Macron’s right-hand man are accused of “conflict of interest”
French President Emmanuel Macron is facing a credibility crisis within his government after his Justice Minister, Éric Dupond-Moretti, and his right-hand man and chief of staff, Alexis Kohler, have been implicated in two cases of corruption. Specifically, they are accused of “conflict of interest.”
Dupond-Moretti is accused of using his position to presumably settle accounts with magistrates with whom he had clashed in the past, when he was a famous criminal lawyer. He will become, therefore, the first Minister of Justice to be prosecuted in the Fifth Republic during the exercise of his functions.
The Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the only one competent to judge the members of the French Government, will be in charge of ruling in the case of Dupond-Moretti, who denies the crimes and has no intention of resigning. His lawyers have filed an appeal to try to prevent him from sitting on the bench. If found guilty, he could face a sentence of up to five years in prison, the payment of a fine of 500,000 euros and a penalty of ineligibility.
The two main unions of French judges – the Union of Magistrates (USM) and the Syndicate of the Magistracy (SM) – filed a complaint against Dupond-Moretti in December 2020, which was also joined by the anti-corruption association Anticor. They accuse the minister of “abuse of his functions.” They consider that he used his position “for personal purposes” by having initiated disciplinary proceedings against magistrates who had dealt with matters that personally affected him or his clients.
The head of Justice is credited with having ordered in September 2020 the opening of an administrative file against three magistrates of the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office. They had ordered a review of the call log of a dozen lawyers, including the minister himself, related to a case of influence peddling for which former President Nicolas Sarkozy was tried.
“Political maneuvers”
Dupond-Moretti, one of the strong men of the French government, is also accused of opening administrative proceedings against an investigating judge who had accused one of his clients in Monaco when he was a lawyer. The ‘Guardian of the Seals’, as the Minister of Justice is also called in France, in turn accuses the magistrates’ unions of “political maneuvers” to harm him.
He was appointed Minister of Justice in July 2020 by Macron. Before he had been a media criminal lawyer. His appointment, applauded by his professional colleagues, was considered “a declaration of war” by the magistrates, whom he frequently insulted when he was a shyster.
The “ogre of justice”, as the press calls him, defended, when he was a lawyer, alleged murderers, corrupt people, the footballer Karim Bezema, controversial businessmen such as Bernard Tapie, the King of Morocco Mohamed VI and the brother of the terrorist Mohamed Mera, among others. He was also part of the international defense team for Julian Assange, the Wikileaks activist.
To the scandal around Dupond-Moretti, one of the strong men of the French government and appointed Minister of Justice in July 2020 by Macron, Kohler’s formal prosecution was added yesterday. The general secretary of the Elysee has been accused by the National Financial Crimes Prosecutor for a conflict of interest derived from his alleged links with the Italian-Swiss shipowner MSC.
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