Renaud Van Ruymbeke, former choose and determine within the combat in opposition to corruption, is lifeless | EUROtoday

Published on : 05/10/2024 – 3:47 p.m.

4 minutes

Former investigating choose Renaud Van Ruymbeke, recognized for having notably investigated the Elf, Kerviel and Cahuzac circumstances, died on the age of 71, Éric Dupond-Moretti introduced on Friday May 10.

“Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke has left us. France loses a great magistrate and Justice an immense servant. I send my heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones,” introduced the Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond, on Friday May 10. -Moretti, on X (ex-Twitter).

Retired since 2019, Renaud Van Ruymbeke, with a slender silhouette, sporting a mustache and skinny glasses, was one of many emblematic judges within the combat in opposition to corruption in France and has investigated a few of the most delicate political-financial circumstances of latest a long time .

Among his directions are notably the Urba affair, on the key financing of the Socialist Party, investigations into Jérôme Cahuzac and the Balkany couple, and even the advanced affair of the Taiwan frigates. In 2008, he additionally led the investigation into the enormous frauds of Société Générale dealer Jérôme Kerviel.

For years, Renaud Van Ruymbeke, born August 19, 1952 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, additionally tracked the alleged flows of hidden financing by Libya of Muammar Gaddafi of Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential marketing campaign in 2007.

His path crossed that of the previous president on a number of events, from the Clearstream affair, which had threatened the choose with a disciplinary sanction, to that of Karachi on the financing of Edouard Balladur's marketing campaign in 1995, of which Nicolas Sarkozy was the spokesperson.

“An indelible mark on the judicial history of our country”

The announcement of his loss of life, the reason for which was not specified, aroused emotion within the authorized world.

Renaud Van Ruymbeke “embodied the image of the independent and courageous investigating judge, and will leave an indelible mark in the judicial history of our country”, reacted Rémy Heitz, lawyer basic on the Court of Cassation.

Former Marseille prosecutor Dominique Laurens hailed “a great servant of justice, a free and determined spirit who inspired generations of magistrates through his fight against economic and financial crime and corruption”.

“We are losing an exceptional magistrate who spent his life working tirelessly in the service of Justice,” underlined the President of the Paris Bar, Mr.^e Pierre Hoffman.

An ideal slayer of tax evasion, the previous choose famous that “there has never been so much dirty money in tax havens”, throughout an interview with France 24 in January 2021.

See additionallyRenaud Van Ruymbeke: “There has never been so much dirty money in tax havens”

The Justice of the Peace, an excellent soccer fan and in addition a distinguished pianist, known as for the “need for awareness”, “at a time when States have significant deficits, great needs for hospitals, for the energy transition”.

Bluntly, he urged states to recoup misplaced revenues from “tax evasion to drug trafficking and corruption.”

In his newest ebook, “Offshore. Behind the edifying scenes of tax havens” (ed. The hyperlinks that liberate), Renaud Van Ruymbeke denounced the shortage of “political will to eradicate the system”, to trace down “the opaque circuits of havens”. tax.”

Faced with multinationals who are “elevating income in nations the place taxes are low”, he called for “the legislation to evolve”.

See additionallyRenaud Van Ruymbeke, visitor of the eco: the flourishing tax havens which serve the darkish facet of globalization

His satisfaction lay within the institution in 2016 of the Judicial Convention of Public Interest (CJIP) which permits firms suspected of corruption, affect peddling or tax evasion to flee prison prosecution by paying a advantageous.

In latest years, heavyweights like Airbus (2.1 billion euros in 2020), Google (500 million euros in 2021) or McDonald's (1.25 billion in June 2022) have gone to the money register to place an finish to authorized investigations.

With AFP