The former lawyer had already been heard and then indicted last July in this case.
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The Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, is heard at the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) in Paris, Thursday, March 3, in a case of “illegal taking of interests” in which he has been indicted since last July. The former lawyer did not comment to the press upon his arrival.
The Keeper of the Seals must be heard on the merits of the case, as usual in this type of procedure, by the same three judges who had questioned him for nearly six hours on July 16. They have performed other acts and auditions since. The CJR is the only jurisdiction empowered to prosecute and try ministers for offenses committed in the exercise of their functions.
Eric Dupond-Moretti is suspected of having taken advantage of his position as minister, which he has held since July 2020, to settle accounts with magistrates who crossed paths in his previous career as a lawyer. Unions of magistrates and the anti-corruption association Anticor had filed a complaint. The Keeper of the Seals has always insisted that he only did “follow recommendations” of his administration.
A first case concerns an administrative investigation ordered in September 2020 against three magistrates of the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) who had had his detailed telephone bills and those of other lawyers examined as part of an investigation. The second concerns administrative proceedings brought against a former investigating judge seconded to Monaco who had indicted one of Eric Dupond-Moretti’s ex-clients, who had criticized his methods of “cowboy”.