The Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, sent back to the Court of Justice of the Republic – he announces that he will appeal to the Court of Cassation -, then the Secretary General of the Elysée, Alexis Kohler, indicted: it’s a Monday difficult, on the legal level, for the entourage of Emmanuel Macron.
If the announcement came Monday, October 3, Mr. Kohler, 49, has actually been indicted since September 23, as stated by the financial public prosecutor, Jean-François Bohnert, in a press release, confirming information from Franceinfo. Justice suspects him of “illegal taking of interests” in relations between the State and the powerful freight operator Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), one of the world leaders in the sector.
Mr. Kohler is also placed under assisted witness status for influence peddling in the same case. He informed, through his lawyer, Mr.e Eric Dezeuze, that he “Strongly denies having committed any offence” for facts “can go back more than ten years”and that it now counts “demonstrate his innocence”.
A snub for the PNF
This decision is also a snub for the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF). In August 2019, he had in fact dismissed a first investigation, opened following complaints following the revelations of Mediapart on this case, considering the offenses insufficiently characterized. The Anticor association then filed a civil action, triggering the opening of a judicial investigation, on June 23, 2020, entrusted to two investigating judges. The latter decided to ignore the requisitions of the PNF, who had asked for the prosecution to be dropped.
“This shows that judges are still independent,” welcomes Elise Van Beneden, President of Anticor. However, she regrets, “we have to get to the stage where we seize these judges, it is proof that the action of associations like Anticor is important”.
The substance of the case is based on the concealment by Mr. Kohler of his personal links with the Aponte family, the main shareholder of the Italian-Swiss maritime freight operator MSC and main customer of the shipyards of STX France, in Saint-Nazaire (Loire Atlantique). The Apontes are the cousins of the mother of the current secretary general of the Elysée.
However, he sat on the board of directors of the Grand Port maritime du Havre (GPMH) as deputy director of the state participation agency (2010-2012). He thus approved contracts between a subsidiary of MSC and the GPMH. If he claims to have stood aside from the negotiations, documents revealed by Mediapart show that he did participate in the meetings, which was partly confirmed by the preliminary investigation. He was also able to make decisions in favor of MSC as a member of the cabinets of Pierre Moscovici and Emmanuel Macron at the Ministry of the Economy. So many strategic positions, where he was able to influence the choices of the State.
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