This is a relief and a great victory for Anticor. At the end of a long political and judicial standoff that lasted fourteen months, the anti-corruption association regained, on Thursday, September 5, the approval of the government that allowed it, from 2015 to 2023, to become a civil party and have access to investigating judges, particularly in the event of inaction by the prosecution, in cases of violation of integrity.
By decree to be published on September 6 at Official JournalThe outgoing Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, granted his approval to Anticor for a period of three years. Shortly before being replaced by Michel Barnier, Attal responded favourably to the request made in January by the association created in 2002 and currently involved in 148 legal proceedings.
Mr. Attal considered that Anticor complied “all conditions provided”, “considering” notably “the disinterested and independent nature of its activities, assessed in particular in relation to the origin of its resources as disclosed in its financial documentation and its moral reports for the years 2022 and 2023, and the transparency measures implemented in accordance with the new statutes adopted on 26 March 2022.”
War of nerves
In June 2023, Anticor lost, with retroactive effect, its approval following a ruling by the Paris administrative court. The court found that the 2021 government decree was tainted by“an error of law”. The court affirmed, following internal differences in the management of Anticor (two dissidents of the association had mentioned donations made to Anticor, in 2018 and 2020, by the businessman Hervé Vinciguerra, close to the former socialist minister Arnaud Montebourg) that there was “a doubt about the selfless and independent character” of the association.
Between legal proceedings and a new request for approval, Anticor had tried in vain to recover this precious key. In December 2023, while Elisabeth Borne was leaving Matignon, the government had not responded to the association’s request, which amounted to an implicit refusal. Again in July 2024: Attal had adopted the strategy of silence.
But on August 9, Anticor won a first legal victory: the Paris administrative court suspended Attal’s implicit refusal and summoned the resigning Prime Minister to “reconsider the request” and to give reasons for its decision within fifteen days. However, Mr Attal did not do so.
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