The overhaul of the repentant status “can work if the deal is interesting”, according to a professor specializing in drug trafficking

Specialist in the economics of crime, Bertrand Monnet believes that tongues are likely to loosen on the condition that the basic sentences are “heightened” and the conditions of detention toughened.

The reform of the status of repentant “can work if the deal is interesting”, estimates Monday April 29 on franceinfo Bertrand Monnet, former army officer and holder of the chair of criminal risk management at Edhec (School of Advanced Business Studies), who has worked for 15 years on drug traffickers. On Sunday, the Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti announced the creation of a national prosecutor’s office specializing in organized crime, as well as the creation “of a true repentant status”. Bertrand Monnet advocates strengthening prison sentences and conditions of detention for convicted criminals, in order to encourage them to reduce their sentences by collaborating with investigators.

franceinfo: What do you think of the announcement of the creation of a national prosecutor’s office on organized crime?

Bertrand Monnet: This is a completely positive sign, we must understand what organized crime is, not hide our faces. It is good that we use specific means to deal with a specific subject. These are multinational criminal companies, which have a specific objective which is to make money, create criminal value. And who, to do this, work on several continents with an organization comparable to that of a legal company. A mafia is no mess. There are several types. There are pyramidal organizations, with a leader, a staff, workers, etc. And there are others that operate more like a star, for example, the Camorra or the Mexican cartels. These are groups that are very difficult to penetrate and which, at the same time, spread abroad through money and corruption.

And do you think we need to go beyond that?

If action is carried out in silos, it will not, in my opinion, be effective. Having spent time with drug traffickers as part of my research, I understood one thing: these people only work for money, they are fascinated by money. So making it possible to infiltrate, to have information from the inside, is necessary but not sufficient. We also need to act on the financial front to break the patterns that allow them to launder money. This objective can be achieved through financial but above all diplomatic action.

“These multinational criminals do not launder money in a barber shop [un salon de coiffure]a kebab shop or a grocery store, but in banking havens, notably Dubai.”

Bertrand Monnet, professor at Edhec

at franceinfo

And once it is laundered, this money is invested in countries like Morocco. If the French state does not invest in these issues, we will achieve nothing. It is useful to wait for the parliamentary report of May 8 to understand all the actions that must be taken, including on the diplomatic level. Because we must break the motivation of organized crime to work.

And on the status of the repentant, which must be reinforced?

It can work if the “deal” is interesting. The status of repentant is inspired by the Italian statute of repentant. But there, the conditions of detention of someone convicted of mafia association are much harsher than the conditions of detention of a criminal in France. So if the sentences [de base] are increased, and if the conditions of detention make it tempting for a major drug trafficker to collaborate, why not. But it all depends on people’s psychology. In Italy, within the ‘Ndrangheta, there are very few repentants, but there are others where there are many more. But it is a tool that should not be deprived of.

The Minister of Justice says he is targeting the high end of the spectrum, what does that mean?

I think it refers to this organized crime, very different from a gang that sells cannabis and cocaine on the street. Organized crime is truly a structured criminal entity, very difficult to penetrate, but which, at the same time, has a very strong economic and sometimes political surface. The high end of the spectrum are organizations that have this power of penetration and at the same time very strong economic capacity. According to the Italian National Anti-Mafia Prosecutor’s Office, the Italian mafias have a turnover of 150 billion euros; if this were consolidated in the Italian GDP, it would exceed 8%. In France, what is measured by the Ministry of Finance is the turnover of drug trafficking, which is between 3 and 4 billion euros. And it brings to life, directly or indirectly, the equivalent of a city like Rennes. So we are not far from an equilibrium which is starting to be dangerous.