A member of the government finds himself in a light that he would no doubt have preferred to avoid. Alain Griset, Minister Delegate in charge of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, was tried in October by the Paris Criminal Court for “incomplete or false declaration of his property situation” and “of his interests”. The judges will deliver their decision on Wednesday December 8 at 1:30 p.m. The prosecution requested 10 to 12 months suspended prison sentence, a fine of 30,000 euros and a three-year ineligibility sentence, which would force him to leave the government.
In office for a year and a half, the 68-year-old former taxi driver plays an important role in the government’s response to the economic consequences of Covid-19 and health restrictions. He is the incumbent prime minister to appear before a criminal court. Franceinfo summarizes what we know about this case.
He recognized a “clumsiness”
It was the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP) which had referred the case to Alain Griset on November 24, 2020. Since its creation in 2013, this independent body has been responsible for monitoring asset declarations and interests that must now be fulfilled by nearly 15,000 public officials, including ministers when they join government (they are posted online).
If it finds that a declaration is incomplete, the HATVP can request that it be completed, but also “transmit, in the most serious cases, the file to the competent public prosecutor’s office which has the possibility of initiating criminal proceedings”, she explains on her site. Beyond the offenses that can be revealed by this control, the very fact of not making a declaration, or that it is false or significantly incomplete, is punishable by three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros, as well as the ban from holding public office and a ten-year ban on civic rights.
In this case, the HATVP affirmed in November that Alain Griset’s declaration of financial situation, issued in August 2020, “omits financial participations held in a stock savings plan, as well as the associated cash account, for a total amount of 171,000 euros”. She added that these financial contributions should also have been included in her declaration of interests. This omission was characterized as “substantial” by Didier Migaud, president of the body, interviewed by franceinfo.
The minister had confirmed the existence of this sum and explained to Franceinfo that his non-declaration was a “clumsiness” without “desire for personal enrichment”. “I was badly advised”, he reiterated at the hearing in October, blaming his banker, accountants and others “knowing who told me nothing”. His lawyer had pleaded the acquittal noting that his client “does not have an account abroad, a shell company and that there has been no massive tax evasion”.
An investigation for “breach of trust”
The judgment handed down on Wednesday concerns the fact of having made incomplete declarations. But the matter does not end there. In its assessment, in November, the HATVP presented the omissions as voluntary and aimed at “to prevent the revelation of facts liable to receive the criminal qualification of breach of trust”.
To understand this, you have to know what the amounts that Alain Griset did not declare correspond to. Among the 171,000 euros, 130,000 are “foreign to the personal heritage of Mr. Griset” and belong “to an association of which he was one of the leaders”, explained Didier Migaud to franceinfo. This is the National Confederation of Crafts, Trades and Services (Cnams) of the North, of which Alain Griset was the president of the office until July 2020 and his entry into the government.
The minister confirms it. In November, he explained to Franceinfo that these 130,000 euros came from the sale of a company by Cnams du Nord. He affirmed that, in order to make them grow for the benefit of the association and with the agreement of the latter’s office, they had been placed in his own stock savings plan. According to him, the investment brought in 19,200 euros in capital gain, and the money was entirely donated to the Cnams du Nord.
If these explanations are correct, “we are in the confusion of assets, which is not in accordance with the law”, then estimated Didier Migaud with AFP. “There are other ways to grow, it seems to me, a sum than putting it in your personal account., he commented to franceinfo. Now, the rest is for justice to decide. “
An investigation for “breach of trust” has since been opened by the Lille prosecutor’s office, in parallel with the Paris prosecutor’s investigation after which Alain Griset is referred to justice. As part of the Lille investigation, which is still ongoing, Alain Griset’s official housing at the Ministry of the Economy was searched in February. Breach of trust is punishable by 5 years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros.
Uncertainties about his political future
In November 2020, when the case was revealed, the government maintained its confidence in Alain Griset: “The clarifications to be made have been made and it is now up to justice to do its job”, commented Matignon to franceinfo. This position had not changed after the announcement in July of his referral to justice. The world and Politico then quoted “the entourage of Jean Castex”, which recalled that“a summons to appear is not a court decision let alone a judgment”.
In case of conviction, “I will continue as long as the president trusts me”, Alain Griset said in mid-September. But the question of the support provided by the executive is not the only one to be raised: the three-year sentence of ineligibility required against him would entail “automatically the prohibition to exercise public functions”, explained the prosecutor at the hearing.
The most recent resignation of a member of the government was already linked to the control carried out by the HATVP: in December 2019, the High Commissioner for Pensions, Jean-Paul Delevoye, left his post after admitting not having mentioned several activities. in its declaration of interests. Justice was then seized.