Bruno Le Maire wants to establish “complementary” administrative sanctions to legal procedures

During a hearing before the Senate commission of inquiry, the Minister of the Economy proposed simplifying the freezing of assets “to hit traffickers more effectively in the wallet”.

“Drugs are gangrene for France.” The Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, confirmed, Tuesday March 26, his intention to simplify the freezing of drug traffickers’ assets, thanks to administrative sanctions “complementary” legal proceedings. “We must simplify, accelerate and strengthen procedures to hit traffickers more effectively”said the minister during a hearing before the Senate commission of inquiry into the impact of drug trafficking in France.

Bruno Le Maire thus pleaded for creating a “administrative process” freezing of assets. If the measure comes into force, “serious and consistent evidence will be sufficient to apply an asset freeze to all drug traffickers, financial managers, asset managers, banks, insurance companies, notaries and real estate agents who have the assets of drug traffickers”he assured.

“A means of additional financial hindrance”

“There is the freezing of assets for the purpose of fighting terrorism, we propose that the freezing of assets for the purpose of fighting drug traffickers be adopted this year by Parliament”, a deadline already mentioned by the minister during his wishes in January. People suspected of drug trafficking would be identified by the services of Bercy and those of the Ministry of the Interior, the judicial authority simply being “associated with these designations”.

“This new legal instrument must be considered as a means of complementary financial hindrance and not in confrontation with legal action”insisted Bruno Le Maire on Tuesday. “The advantage compared to judicial confiscation is that it allows you to go faster, save time on the investigation or judicial information and it has an automatic nature”, he argued. According to the minister, drug trafficking represents in France “200,000 active people and a turnover of at least 3.5 billion euros”.