Former investigating judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke, known for having notably investigated high-profile political-financial cases such as Elf, Urba and Cahuzac, has died at the age of 71.
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“ Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke has left us. France loses a great magistrate and Justice an immense servant. I send my heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones. »announced this Friday, May 10, the Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, on X (ex-Twitter).
Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke has left us.
France loses a great magistrate and Justice an immense servant.
I send my heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones.
— Eric Dupond-Moretti (@E_DupondM) May 10, 2024
Retired since 2019, Renaud Van Ruymbeke, with a slender silhouette, wearing mustache and thin glasses, was one of the emblematic judges in the fight against corruption in France, and has investigated some of the most sensitive political-financial cases of recent decades.
Among his instructions are notably the Urba affair, on the hidden financing of the Socialist Party, investigations into Jérôme Cahuzac and the Balkany couple, or even the complex Taiwan frigate affair. In 2008, he also led the investigation into the giant frauds of the Société Générale trader Jérôme Kerviel.
For years, Renaud Van Ruymbeke, born August 19, 1952 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, also tracked the alleged flows of hidden financing by Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya during the presidential campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007.
His path crossed that of the former president on several occasions, from the Clearstream affair, which had threatened the judge with a disciplinary sanction, to that of Karachi on the financing of Édouard Balladur’s campaign in 1995, of which Sarkozy was the spokesperson.
He “embodied the image of the independent and courageous investigating judge”
The announcement of his death, the cause of which was not specified, aroused emotion in the legal world. Renaud Van Ruymbeke « embodied the image of the independent and courageous investigating judge, and will leave an indelible mark in the judicial history of our country »reacted Rémy Heitz, attorney general at the Court of Cassation.
Former Marseille prosecutor Dominique Laurens welcomed “ a great servant of justice, a free and determined spirit who inspired generations of magistrates through his fight against economic and financial crime and corruption ».
“ We have lost an exceptional magistrate who spent his life working tirelessly in the service of justice. »underlined the President of Paris, Me Pierre Hoffman.
Tax evasion and tax havens in the crosshairs
A great critic of tax evasion and tax havens, the former judge noted that there is “ a lot of money at our doors ” and ” no one does anything », It was during his last interview given to AFP, in November 2022.
The magistrate called for “ the need for awareness »“ at a time when States have significant deficits, great needs for hospitals, for the energy transition ». He bluntly urged states to recover lost revenues from “ from tax fraud, drug trafficking and corruption “.
In his latest book, Offshore. Behind the edifying scenes of tax havens (Ed. The Links that Liberate), Mr. Van Ruymbeke denounced the little “ political will to eradicate the system “, to track down “ the opaque circuits of tax havens “. Faced with multinationals who are “ boost profits in countries where taxes are low “, he had called for this ” that the law evolves “.
His satisfaction lay in the establishment in 2016 of the Judicial Convention of Public Interest (Cjip) which allows companies suspected of corruption, influence peddling or tax fraud to escape criminal prosecution by paying a fine.
In recent years, heavyweights like Airbus, Google and McDonald’s have taken action to put an end to legal investigations.
Read alsoRenaud Van Ruymbeke: the money circulating in tax havens “has reached a very sophisticated level”