The former minister and close to François Hollande Kader Arif will be tried from Wednesday by the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) for suspicion of favoritism in the award of a public contract to a company managed by his brother in 2014.
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The former Minister Delegate and then PS Secretary of State for Veterans, who had resigned in November 2014, is referred to the trial formation of this institution for "
illegal taking of interests, infringement of the freedom of access to 'equality of public contracts and embezzlement of public funds
'.
Kader Arif is accused of having concluded without a call for competition, in March 2014, while he was Minister Delegate in the government of Jean-Marc Ayrault, a contract relating in particular to "
media training
" between the Ministry of Defense and a company run by his brother Aissa Arif and one of his nephews, whose name did not appear. The market amounted to 60,000 euros for six sessions, but only one had been carried out. The CJR is the only body empowered to try members of the government for acts committed in the exercise of their functions.
Kader Arif, now 62 years old, "
protests his innocence and considers that the facts with which he is accused have not been established: that he did not favor his brother's business, that he did not has not embezzled public funds,
”one of his lawyers, François Cantier, told AFP.
The lawyer will also ask for the release on the grounds that "
Kader Arif cannot benefit from a fair trial
" before the "
exceptional jurisdiction
" that is the CJR, while "
a judicial investigation is still in progress
" at Paris prosecutor's office against the other protagonists of the case.
Defense rights
“
Kader Arif is absent from these proceedings
” since he was a member of the government at the time of the events, and therefore “
could not be confronted
” with the other accused and respond to their statements, which he believes goes to the 'against respect for the rights of the defense. And conversely, the investigating committee of the CJR "
did not hear the other
direct protagonists either" and therefore "
was not in a position to instruct
," he said. The revelation of the contract between the ministry and the company All Access had pushed the minister delegate to resign on November 21, 2014.
Kader Arif, who was also MEP and socialist deputy for Haute-Garonne, was already weakened by an investigation opened by the Toulouse prosecutor's office after a report, in September 2014, of elected opposition officials (ex-UMP) of the ancient Midi-Pyrenees region. They had denounced "
anomalies
" in the contractual relations between the regional council and two successive companies, AWF Musique then AWF, belonging in particular to Aissa Arif. Kader Arif had then evoked "
cases which did not (concern) absolutely not
", but he had been forced to leave his functions after searches carried out in the premises of the sub-directorate of purchases of the Ministry of Defense.
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The departure of Kader Arif came after other resignations of relatives of François Hollande caught up with the justice or the tax authorities, such as the former Minister of the Budget Jérôme Cahuzac, the political advisor Aquilino Morelle or the Secretary of State Thomas Thévenoud, putting undermines its promise of an “
exemplary Republic
”.
The judgment formation of the CJR is made up of three magistrates and twelve parliamentarians (six senators and six deputies).
It decides by absolute majority and secret ballot on the guilt of the accused then, in the event of guilt, on the sentence imposed.
The trial before this institution is scheduled to last two days.
