Thread by @osamabinjavaid

At least four current ministers have either faced or are facing investigations. Nicolas Sarkozy to appeal overturn corruption conviction.

A few notes about 2023 and various shades of #corruption in #France.

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Gérald Darmanin (Interior Minister)
He has been accused of rape and abuse of power, asking sex in exchange of favours. He admitted the facts but says victims gave their consent for the sexual relations. Two inquiries were oppened and closed wihout him being formally accused.

Eric Dupond-Moretti (Justice Minister)
He has been accused of using his ministerial role to take revenge on judges who were rivals during his years as a lawyer. He was formally accused and the inquiry is ongoing.

Sébastine Lécornu (Defence Minister)
Accused of underdeclaring his income and unlawful conflict of interest. He was heard by authorites. Not formally accused yet. The inquiry is oingoing and he is still part of the cabinet

Olivier Dussopt (Labour Minister)
Investigated for receiving gifts from a water management company when a contract was just about to be concluded between the company and the city of Annonay.

In his two presidential terms, Emanuel Macron’s cabinet has had its fair share of scandals.

At least five ministers resigned after facing investigations and accusations ranging from tax evasion and employing so-called ‘ghost’ workers to fraud and sexual harassment.

Nicolas Hulot (Environment)

Investigation opened after six women filed complains for rape and sexual harassment.
He was fully supported but left the government arguing “Fundamental Disagreements with Macron's policies”

Laura Feissel (Sports)

French media discovered that had failed to declare an important part of her income to the taxes authorities. She has not been formally accused . She resigned after the revelations citing “personal reasons”.

Sylvie Goulard (Défence)

She resigned after being accused of previously creating “fictitious jobs”.

François Nyssen (Culture)

She was accused of undeclared labor and left the government. The inquiry was closed without her being formally prosecuted.

François Rugy (Environment)

French media revealed he was using public funds to finance luxury dinners and travels and under declaring his come . A formal investigation was not open, and Macron publicly affirmed he fully supported him, but he resigned anyway

Faced with accusations of abuse of power and misuse of public funds - three ministers were changed in cabinet reshuffles.

This does not include several secretaries, advisers and commissioners facing allegations of corruption and other wrong-doing.

Muriel Pénicaud (Labour)

An investigation was opened against her on “favouritism” . The investigation is ongoing. She has not been formally accused. She left the government after a cabinet shuffle in 2020

Jean-Michel Blanquer (Education)

Two French media denounced he used 65K euros of public money to create and fund a new student union, supportive of his policies to counterweight the unions hostiles to them. An inquiry is still ongoing. He left the govt after a cabinet shuffle

As well as those in power - the French far-right politician Marine Le Pen is also accused by the European Union's fraud agency of misusing public funds.

Le Pen dismissed the reports as “foul play by the European Union"

But this is not new for #French politics.

Fmr presidents
- Nicolas Sarkozy is convicted.
- Jacques Chirac faced corruption & abuse charges. And even the man who led France against Nazis,
- Charles de Gaulle, faced allegations of running party campaigns from colonies in Africa

Stéphane Zumsteeg from @IpsosFrance says "The a gap is widening b/w the ruling class and French citizens who can't understand why politicians who are accused of several charges do not have to resign.In the past politicians stepped aside until the trials were over...

..That’s not longer the case, mainly b/c if you're the head of state and a number of your ministers or people from your close circle resign, you are seen as weak. So in their calculations, It’s better to keep an accused minister, even against public opinion, than to look weak"

Not much has changed in the last 20 years in #France.

Laurent Dublet from @anticor_org says their fight against corruption has been ongoing for two decades. One of the handful of organizations, endorsed by the PM office, which are able to sue politicians for corruption.

#AntiCor has more than 150 cases against politicians for alleged corruption. Laurent says Corruption is everywhere but it’s taken more seriously in other countries. In France alack of control and will from politicians to sanction corruption cases has mage things worse.

About 60% of the #French public perceives politicians to be corrupt, says Laurent. Increasingly, Business and political relationships have flourished which are detrimental for democracy. @anticor_org says just in #EU therea re 5000 public servants and 55000 registered lobbyists.

Stéphane Zumsteeg says "France, as a Western Europe country obeys to certain standards, but what we can say is in the last decade, we witnessed a multiplication of political-financial affaires, a collusion between money and a certain number of political figures...

.."what's changed? it was very clear until the 80s that a minister who was formally accused in any kind of affair, being it moral or financial, was obliged to resign. Over the years, certain lawyers & politicians began to insist that this was against presumption of innocence"..

...."problem today is we have all kind of cases, not only corruption. And people under investigation are accused by several parties and involved in several inquiries. That is often the case of allegations of sexual harassment"...

.."presumption of innocence isnt something wrong, the problem is with multiplication of cases, there is a gap getting wider and wider between the ruling class and the french citizens who cannot understand why politicians who are accused of several charges do not have to resign"..

.."justice in #France takes time. Procedures are long and overlap, so the calculations politicians make is that that one case is forgotten and then there is another...I don't think France is a particularly corrupted country compared to other European Countries"...said Stéphane

"In 2023, we'll hear a lot about the cases concerning Nicolas #Sarkozy, he is still a reference for the conservatives & the right. And he is a showman. We can expect many developments on the accusations he received money from Ghaddafi. Media & public opinion will be all over it"

"with #Macron we have this idea to not accept any pressure, e.g. when a minister is under accusations. He sees himself as a super-president, as “I am the leader so I lead. I'm not going to accept any pressure, being it from the media, public or the judges” added Stéphane Zumsteeg

Can it change?

@anticor_org says

1- Guarantee independence of investigating every allegation. Unfair that the magistrates who decide the merit of #corruption report to the justice minister.

2- In #France politicians in govt have a 15 member special court which tries their legal cases.
AntiCor say it is elitist and unfair because 12 of the 15 members are MPs and only three are judges.

3- Better control of lobbying actions. Lobbyists and influence groups can sway and impact political decisions.

Not rectifying the above according to @anticor_org is a recipe for #corruption, wrongdoing, injustice, favouritism and deceiving the public's mandate.