Éric Dupond-Moretti will have to face a trial for illegal taking of interests. The Court of Cassation confirmed this Friday, July 28, 2023 its referral to the Court of Justice of the Republic, the only court authorized to prosecute members of the government for offenses committed in the exercise of their functions. The Keeper of the Seals is accused of having taken advantage of his status to settle accounts with magistrates with whom he had had trouble when he was a lawyer.
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Éric Dupond-Moretti requested the cancellation of his indictment for several irregularities. But the Court of Cassation did not follow it and validated the main part of the procedure. She just removed from the file documents seized during a search at the Department of Justice. The Keeper of the Seals will therefore be judged by the Court of Justice of the Republic. A trial he says he is waiting for ” with confidence “, according to his lawyer.
“ I’m on task first, you’ve seen it and then I’ll respond when the time comes “, for his part reacted this Friday before the press the main interested party – who had lodged seven appeals against the procedure and an eighth against the October judgment having pronounced his dismissal on trial – on the sidelines of a visit to Le Pontet in the Vaucluse.
Mr. Dupond-Moretti is implicated in two cases. The first concerns the administrative investigation he ordered, barely arrived at the ministry, against three magistrates of the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF). They had had his phone bills peeled when he was still a simple lawyer, in the so-called “wiretapping” case, involving Nicolas Sarkozy.
In the second case, Éric Dupond-Moretti is accused of having launched administrative proceedings against a former examining magistrate who had indicted one of his clients.
Since the start of the investigation opened in 2021, the Minister has repeated that he has only done ” follow the recommendations of his administration “. He has always benefited from the support of Emmanuel Macron. Further proof of this confidence, Éric Dupond-Moretti was kept in his post during last week’s reshuffle.
The Keeper of the Seals also ” all the trust of the Prime Minister, according to a press release from Matignon published this Friday afternoon. Elisabeth Borne takes note of the decision » and recalls that his minister is « presumed innocent “. She concludes that the legal proceedings “ continue independently “.
If the confidence reigns, this situation does not remain about it less unpublished in the history of the Fifth Republic, in the eyes of the Union of Judges (USM) of the Union of Judges (SM). The upcoming hearing, according to the two organizations that had filed a complaint against Mr. Dupond-Moretti on December 17, 2020, “ discredits the Keeper of the Seals and, in turn, weakens the entire judicial institution “.
Read alsoFrance: Borne repudiates Dupond-Moretti by clearing two PNF magistrates (2022)