That was just over a year ago. It was a century ago … In the courtyard of the Ministry of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti officially took up his duties as Keeper of the Seals. “I do not wage war on anyone!” He hammered then. Despite his defenses, the former tenor of the bars is however, today, in the midst of a conflict that could well seal his political fate.
This is a first for a Minister of Justice: here he is summoned, this Friday at 9 am, in front of Janine Drai and Bruno Lavielle, two judges from the Investigation Commission of the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) who could indict him for “illegal taking of interests”. “He will obviously go to this summons. He will answer all questions. And that will last as long as it takes, ”said those around him to 20 minutes.
Dupond-Moretti accused of settling accounts “Acquittator”
It will probably take a little. In this file that poisons his existence, Eric Dupond-Moretti is suspected of conflicts of interest between his current functions as minister and his former activity as a lawyer. Clearly, the magistrates’ unions and the Anticor association which lodged a complaint believe that he used his new status to settle accounts with certain magistrates crossed when he was a lawyer.
They want as evidence the administrative investigations that he ordered, once installed Place Vendôme, against certain magistrates, in particular the national financial prosecutor’s office. “It’s ridiculous, tackles one of his close supporters. Procedures were underway before he arrived. And above all, he only followed the recommendations of his services. He did not take personal initiative to take revenge on anyone … “
This is what the judges of the CJR, the only body empowered to try ministers for crimes committed in the exercise of their functions, are trying to find out. And they don’t spare their efforts. In addition to numerous hearings carried out in recent weeks, they raided the offices of the ministry for 15 hours, Thursday, July 1, going so far as to drill with a grinder into the old safes of which no one could find the keys. On this occasion, they seized several documents, “sucked” data from many computers and recovered cell phones, including one belonging to Eric Dupond-Moretti himself, such as 20 minutes revealed it.
Macron’s support, public disinterest
“Serene”, according to his entourage, the minister knows very well that this whole affair finds its source in the tension which once shrouded his relations with the judiciary. He denies it. But many judges have not forgotten the sometimes harsh methods “that Acquittator” employed to defend his clients in the courtrooms, even going so far as to break the sacrosanct “faith of the palace” – a secret oath between magistrates and lawyers – during the trial of Georges Tron to obtain the dismissal.
Paradoxically, this accusation is now turning into a defense for those close to him. Without speaking of the existence of a “Republic of judges”, they suggest that this affair is based, in fact, only on the need for revenge of a handful of members of the Union Syndicale des Magistrates (majority union) , determined to bring down his oldest enemy.
Of resignation, however, there is no question. Tuesday, during the Council of Ministers, Emmanuel Macron wanted to support his minister. “I will not let justice become a power,” he said. All the more so since he knows full well that public opinion is not overly passionate about this arid and complex affair which erupts in the middle of July. Eric Dupond-Moretti is already thinking about the start of the school year. With two bills to defend and the Estates General of Justice to pilot, he knows his summer will be hot.