The public prosecutor considered that the ex–istrate had not committed a breach in the case of “fadettes”. However, he noted conflicts of interest in other cases.
Le Monde with AFP
No disciplinary sanction was claimed, Tuesday, September 27, against the former national financial prosecutor Eliane Houlette, even if the public prosecutor considers that she failed to “his duty of impartiality” due to conflicts of ‘past interests. Before the Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM), the representative of the executive Paul Huber considered that this failure could not give rise to sanction. The other two grievances alleged against him, including one linked to the case of “fadettes”, are not characterized, said Mr. Huber.
Former head of the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), M row has appeared since Monday before the disciplinary body of magistrates in a procedure that applies to its initiator, the Keeper of the Seals, Eric Dupond- Moretti, to be indicted for “illegal taking of interest”.
Three grievances are sent to the old magistrate. The first relates to his management of the investigation which had led to peel the telephone statements of tenors of the bar, including Mr. Dupont-Moretti, then a lawyer, to identify a mole in the case of corruption of “listening” involving Nicolas Sarkozy. As early as 2021, the general inspection of justice had cleared M me heed of any “breach of ethical principles” in this component of the file.
Contacts with a lawyer
only existed the grievance for not having informed his supervisory authority, the public prosecutor’s office. “This grievance is not formed,” decided Mr. Huber. CSM reports had pointed out on Monday that the general prosecutor’s office had been informed “directly” of the existence of “the 306 survey” in September 2014, then “several times”. Admittedly, there was no “formal report” but a “such formalism is not compulsory”, they recalled.
Regarding the second complaint, namely “brutal” management accusations that weigh on M me heed, Mr. Hubert considered that he is not more characterized. On Monday, the former magistrate had assumed to have been “demanding” with his teams to establish the credibility of the PNF, which she had taken the lead just after her creation. “I was inhabited by the fear of failing for five years. (…) The slightest error would have been exploited to make us stumble,” she said.
On the other hand, argued Mr. Huber, the former PNF chef failed in his “duty of impartiality, but also of prudence and loyalty” due to conflicts of interest. He was notably accused of contacts with a lawyer to whom she would have delivered information on the PNF survey concerning induced overtime at the town hall of Marseille. “I do not see what I said, what I did that would go beyond the loyal relationships with a lawyer,” said the questioning on Monday, remembering the exchanges of a “distressing banality”.
“tumult”
She had, moreover, not informed her teams that her daughter worked in a cabinet whose partners appeared on the sidelines of a file supervised by this prosecution. To justify the absence of sanctions, Mr. Huber highlighted that these alleged breaches were known before the retirement of M me heed, and then had not given rise to any disciplinary procedure .
At the hearing on Monday, the ex-procureure had raised against disciplinary proceedings engaged against him, attributing them to the “tumult” caused by the Keeper of the Seals, Eric Dupond-Moretti, and his ” detectation “of the national financial prosecution.