Who said that only the Ministry of the Interior fought against Islamism? Lately, even Olivier Dussopt, the Minister in charge of Public Accounts, has started to use a funny expression in front of his interlocutors: “Al Capone strategy”. The royal pole of the Elysée and the services of Gérald Darmanin present it as a major tool in the face of separatism, this ideology which gives precedence to its own rules over those of the Republic. The formula refers to the Chicago mafia, confused not for the hundreds of murders he allegedly ordered, but for tax evasion.
“It is a strategy of administrative harassment in the face of very skilful organizations which never cross the red line”, describes an adviser to the executive. Clearly, it is a question of putting pressure, by all the means at the disposal of the State, on associations, businesses, companies which, in appearance, respect all the laws. By targeting the portfolio as a priority. The figures mentioned by the government make you dizzy: in two years, the state services have notified some… 47 million euros of recovery on this basis. At the head of the first line organizations, the Urssaf, responsible among other things for controlling undeclared work. “With the Urssaf, the advantage is that the bill immediately goes up very, very high”, reacts a member of the intelligence community.
In itself, the idea of targeting adversaries by devious means is not new. “An investigation that has the effect of hitting the opposition in the wallet has always existed,” says criminologist Alain Bauer. In The French Vendetta (Albin Michel), published in 2003, the journalist Sophie Coignard evoked these ceaseless fiscal controls launched by the socialist power against the essayist Jean-Edern Hallier, who wanted to reveal the existence of the hidden daughter of François Mitterrand. But these things were not assumed, contrary to the Al Capone strategy, of which the State is making less and less mystery. “We annoy those who annoy us,” sums up an executive adviser.
“It was not in the manners”
The first recent application of this doctrine dates back to the beginning of 2014. Faced with the intrigues of the agitator Dieudonné, who multiplies anti-Semitic allusions in his new show, the government engages in an all-out battle. In addition to the prefectural orders prohibiting his performances, the services of Bercy are activated, because the artist makes suspicious financial movements. “All our services are on it. We will have it in the portfolio, like Al Capone”, declared Jean-Marc Ayrault, the Prime Minister, in front of journalists. An episode that leaves a mixed memory to the prefect Gilles Clavreul, then adviser to the Elysée: “I remember having called Bercy asking where the procedures were. I was told: “it’s taking its course.” In fact , the case had been a little lost sight of, because it did not interest them, it was not in the morals. At the same time, in the most sensitive departments, meetings linked to radicalization began to be organized under the aegis of the prefect. But collaboration is sometimes difficult. “Some labor or tax inspectors refused to carry out the checks that intelligence recommended, because they said it was dangerous or that it was not their job,” recalls a member of the intelligence services. .
When the circular of November 27, 2019 created the departmental cells for the fight against Islamism and community withdrawal (Clir), success was therefore not guaranteed. These departmental meetings must bring together, always under the authority of the prefect, representatives of national education, the police, the gendarmerie, intelligence, the repression of fraud, the labor inspectorate, but also the Urssaf , CAF or Pôle emploi. And this time, real cooperation is taking place, in the wake of the assassination of Samuel Paty. “We finally realized that we had to wage a war of attrition not only against armed and radicalized individuals, but even against a soft-power Islamist who aims for the long term”, describes Eric Delbecque, expert in internal security and ex-responsible for the security of Charlie Hebdo, recent author of The permanent insecurity (Stag).
Rose and Thirode on the move
The general opinion, in the offices of power, two men appear at the forefront in this adaptation: Frédéric Rose and Louis-Xavier Thirode. The first was secretary general of the interministerial committee for the prevention of delinquency and radicalization, and deputy director of the cabinet of the Minister of the Interior before joining the Elysée as interior and security adviser. The second was the boss of the Central Bureau of Cults of Beauvau before becoming an adviser to Gérald Darmanin, himself very favorable, from his time in the Budget, for his services to collaborate in the fight against Islamism. The Al Capone method could not be confined to Islamic fundamentalism. “We obviously do not prohibit ourselves from using it against the ultra-left or the ultra-right,” the government is told.
Within the Clir, checks are decided essentially on the basis of the work of territorial intelligence agents. They often go hand in hand with an S file. “Establishments that are targeted are targeted for objective reasons. This can be hate speech within them, comments that are never moderated on social networks, the proximity of a radicalized individual, guests when it comes to a mosque, etc.”, reports an adviser to the executive. In Lunel and Mauguio, in the Hérault, a report from Tracfin, the financial intelligence service of Bercy, on the cashing of a suspicious check greater than 10,000 euros within a family of which certain members were followed for radicalization launched a general mobilization. “Important work bringing together State services and partners (Pôle emploi, CAF, Urssaf) has made it possible, particularly within the Clir, to build a solid file which is then used by the judicial side”, specifies a recent report from the General Secretariat. of the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization. In June 2020, eleven people were arrested for concealed work, tax and social fraud, misuse of corporate assets and money laundering – some sums being sent to Morocco or Dubai. Nearly one million euros was seized.
“Financial suffocation”
Between January 2020 and February 2022, more than 10,000 checks were carried out within the framework of the Clir, and 718 establishments were closed. “The most effective are the veterinary services, the hygiene checks. To close a place, it’s radical”, underlines a security source, who also recalls that, in 2020, the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis has managed to bend the Pantin mosque thanks to a method of “financial suffocation”. While the rector of the place of worship had relayed messages broadcast against Samuel Paty, the prefect had closed the mosque for six months and, in the process, had withdrawn its religious character from the association managing the place: “This had the effect of withdrawing the tax exemption enjoyed by the organization, which could no longer benefit from a lease on preferential terms. They were obliged to comply and dismiss two problematic personalities.
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