Le Figaro Marseille
The affair caused a lot of noise, to the point that the Minister of National Education at the time was forced to get involved.
As Marsactu reveals, ten years after the events, the former director of Sciences Po Aix appears this Wednesday in the so-called
“phony diplomas”
affair .
Christian Duval is called upon to explain himself at the bar of the judicial court for three days on this highly publicized affair which led to the end of several months of crisis in his resignation from the prestigious establishment.
What are the facts ?
In October 2014, Mediapart and Marsactu published a bombshell article in quiet Aix-en-Provence.
In this article, the director of the city's Institute of Political Studies (IEP) is accused of selling off bogus diplomas by multiplying partnerships with training organizations in France and abroad, all to replenish the coffers of the establishment.
Under the direction of Christian Duval, Sciences Po Aix has, for several years, been increasing, in return for funding, partnerships between the IEP and private schools and organizations in France and abroad.
Thus were born
“Sciences Po Île Maurice”
,
“Sciences Po Réunion”
,
“Sciences Po Armée”
or even an agreement with the Professional University of Africa in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which delivers a master's degree equivalent to that of IEP students who followed, after a difficult competition, the course in Aix.
The practice angers some at Sciences Po Aix.
In July 2014, four teachers resigned, including two elected to the board of directors.
At the end of September, the heads of the six other Institutes of Political Studies - Lille, Lyon, Rennes, Strasbourg, Toulouse and Saint-Germain-en-Laye - summoned Christian Duval to explain this outsourcing of Sciences Po Aix in other establishments, threatening to exclude Aix from the common entrance exam.
A few weeks later, in an audit revealed by Marsactu and Mediapart, the University of Aix-Marseille deplored
“significant dysfunctions”
within the IEP.
The audit focuses particularly on one of the Masters degrees delivered by Sciences Po Aix, that of
“Strategic Information Management”
.
A few days later, after having already faced demonstrations from his students, Christian Duval submitted his resignation.
Read alsoSciences Po Aix in the midst of a crisis
In its referral order that
Le Figaro
obtained, the Aix-en-Provence public prosecutor's office accuses Christian Duval
"of having deceived students and auditors by wrongly presenting training in strategic information management as sanctioned by a master's level IEP diploma"
, all in exchange for training costing several thousand euros.
In the end, these students purchased the prestigious “Sciences Po brand”, but graduated not from the IEP, but from the University of Aix-Marseille.
The courses were mainly taught by temporary workers, and not IEP teacher-researchers.
According to the prosecution, 765 students were cheated.
He is also accused of having printed on paper intended for this purpose, and signed himself, documents
“including the mentions of a diploma, and in particular the mention Master, French Republic, while the delivery of the Master was part of the University of Aix-Marseille"
, and thus having manufactured false diplomas on behalf of Sciences Po Aix.
He is also suspected of having fraudulently obtained a public administration license diploma from three students
“even though they had neither taken nor validated this exam”
.
Christian Duval is also accused of misappropriation of public funds to the detriment of the IEP,
“by entrusting private training organizations with the collection of tuition fees from students registered for training at the IEP of Aix-en-Provence , collection of public funds, not all of which is transferred to the IEP.”
Five other people, employed by the IEP at the time of the events, including the former deputy of Christian Duval, are brought to appear alongside him.
What is the position of the former director?
Contacted by
Le Figaro
, Christian Duval's lawyer indicates that he wants to plead for acquittal during the trial.
“Christian Duval has always formally contested all the offenses with which he is accused,”
indicates Me Pierre Gassend
.
He remains prosecuted for technical offenses which are very far from false diplomas.
My client followed the guideline entrusted to the board of directors and was keen to support the development of the IEP, particularly on an international level.
Sciences Po could not be the antechamber of the ENA.
It was necessary to enable the employability of its students.
»
“My client has been waiting for ten years to demonstrate his innocence,”
adds Me Pierre Gassend.
The Aix-en-Provence IEP had at the time the most prestigious board of directors of all the IEPs, notably with Christine Lagarde as president.
And my client was completely in a policy of promoting the French-speaking world.”
For the lawyer, the case put together by the courts was poorly put together.
“This story has been blown out of proportion,”
accuses Me Gassend.
For years, there have been extrapolations, amalgamations, exaggerations and even lies contrary to the reality of the case.
My client is accused of purely technical offenses and there has never been any personal enrichment.
And we cannot decontextualize the development and outreach policy launched by the board of directors at the time.
My client sees this as an injustice.”
Christian Duval's counsel also contests the accusations of embezzlement of public funds.
“It was said that there was misappropriation of public funds because private organizations collect registration fees,”
said Mr. Gassend.
But what we didn't say was that the registration fees were donated to the IEP.
There will therefore be a huge debate at the hearing on what public money is.”
What does Sciences Po Aix say?
Contacted, the lawyer for the IEP of Aix-en-Provence has not yet responded to our requests.
However, in a press release published this Monday on his website, the new director of the IEP of Aix-en-Provence indicates that
"
this trial is not that of the Sciences Po Aix of today, but of the management team of the Institute of Political Studies of yesterday.”
“Thanks to the commitment and professionalism of the administrative and teaching teams, we have taken up the challenge of a real overhaul and placed the School on an ambitious trajectory
,” insists the text.
“Appointed at the head of the establishment in 2015 with the mission of getting the establishment out of the crisis, and re-elected in 2020 for a second term”
according to this press release, the current director
“calls for the success of this criminal proceedings initiated in 2016, in order to definitively close this chapter in the history of our school.”