Bettencourt case: why the Courroye prosecutor is summoned

Bad luck for Philippe Courroye. The Nanterre prosecutor was summoned for arraignment by a Parisian investigating judge. Sylvia Zimmermann wants to hear it as part of the investigation into the violation of the secrecy of the sources of journalists from Le Monde, who were investigating the Bettencourt affair. Following a complaint from the daily – which filed a civil action – the judge conducted a judicial investigation, in particular for “breach of the secrecy of correspondence by a person holding public authority in the exercise of their functions”.  

The magistrate has already questioned Patrick Nieto, investigator of the General Inspectorate of Services (IGS) - whose premises were searched on Tuesday. But the hearing of this policeman, whose Le Monde publish excerpts, proves to be compromising for Philippe Courroye.  

The policeman explains that the telephone surveillance had been carried out by his service in 2010 at the instigation of the office of Philippe Courroye, who "requested very precisely the fadettes (detailed invoices) of the two journalists" of the daily. The IGS then "reported seven times to the Nanterre prosecutor's office between September 9 and October 6, 2010" and "each time, the magistrates asked us to push our investigations", explained the policeman.  

Identification operation

Why did the IGS set up this telephone monitoring? It all starts on 1^er September 2010. On this date, an article co-signed by Jacques Follorou and Gérard Davet, entitled "The police are looking for Mrs. Bettencourt's small papers" and published in one of the World, reports an ongoing search of the billionaire's home. How did these investigative elements reach the evening paper? Also dry, Me Georges Kiejman, Liliane Bettencourt's lawyer, files a complaint for violation of the secrecy of the investigation and it is on this basis that the Nanterre public prosecutor's office seized the IGS.

Which launches an identification procedure. "It is not journalists or the press who are targeted. The purpose of this investigation entrusted to the IGS is to verify whether persons subject to the secrecy of the investigation are at the origin of the leak in an article of the Monde, published on September 1 online", explains the Nanterre prosecutor at the time. 

According to the investigations of the IGS, this "mole" is none other than the magistrate Isabelle Prévost Desprez, in charge of the file of abuse of weakness on Liliane Bettencourt.

The investigation indeed highlights numerous exchanges between her and one of the two journalists of the Monde, between August 31 and September 1. However, the content of these SMS remains unknown.  

Once hailed as a model of independence and then criticized for its proximity to power, the prosecutor of Nanterre sees, with this summons, his reputation once again tarnished by the Bettencourt affair.  

What will happen if Judge Zimmermann goes all the way? According to Christophe Régnard, president of the Union of magistrates (USM), "it is clear that a public prosecutor under investigation would have difficulty in being able to continue to exercise his prerogatives, even more so in Nanterre", a court responsible for several sensitive files where the magistrates wonder "how to continue to ensure the serenity of the debates in a jurisdiction with fire and blood", estimated the boss of the USM.

And to add: "The Ministry (of Justice) will have to take a position on this very particular situation (...) unprecedented which will have to find a solution very quickly."

source: Express

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