Suspected of conflicts of interest, the former lawyer now Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, was to be heard again Thursday by the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) for illegal taking of interests which earned him an indictment.
The Keeper of the Seals was heard on July 16, 2021 for nearly six hours by three judges of the CJR's investigating committee, the only court authorized to prosecute and try ministers for offenses committed in the exercise of their functions.
At the end of this interrogation, he was indicted for “illegal taking of interests”.
Thursday, he should be heard on the merits, as usual in this type of procedure, by the same three judges, who have also carried out other acts and hearings since last summer.
Suspected of settling accounts
After complaints from magistrates' unions and the anti-corruption association Anticor denouncing two situations of conflict of interest since his arrival at the Chancellery, the CJR opened a judicial investigation in January 2021.
Éric Dupond-Moretti, appointed Keeper of the Seals in July 2020, is suspected of having taken advantage of his position to settle scores with magistrates with whom he had had trouble when he was a lawyer in two cases.
The first concerns the administrative investigation he ordered in September 2020 against three magistrates of the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) who had had his detailed telephone bills peeled ("fadettes") when he was still a star in the courtrooms.
In the other, he is accused of having instituted administrative proceedings against a former investigating judge seconded to Monaco, Edouard Levrault, who had indicted one of his ex-clients and whose methods he had criticized " cowboy”.
Éric Dupond-Moretti insisted that he had only "followed the recommendations" of his administration.
Neither his entourage nor his lawyers wished to comment before his hearing.
He tries to challenge the magistrates of the CJR in vain
Since his indictment, the Minister of Justice has tried, in vain, to have the three magistrates who indicted him challenged.
In November, these judges had rejected, on appeal, all his requests.
The former lawyer demanded that the referral to the commission, his indictment and the fifteen-hour search conducted on July 1 at the Ministry of Justice be canceled.
Éric Dupond-Moretti has also lodged two appeals in cassation which will be examined at the end of the procedure, one to challenge his indictment and the other to obtain a hearing from the Attorney General François Molins, also President of the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM).
If the CJR procedure results in the Minister being sent to trial, his lawyers can then decide whether or not to support these two appeals.