Politics. Commission of Inquiry: Report on Alexis Kohler's failure to appear in court dismissed

The report by the chairman of the commission of inquiry into budgetary overruns regarding the failure of former Élysée Secretary General Alexis Kohler to appear in court has been dismissed, the Paris prosecutor's office announced on Tuesday.

Coquerel "regrets" the decision

In a press release on Monday evening, the president of this commission, LFI MP Éric Coquerel , announced that he had been informed of this classification on Monday by letter from Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau.

"I acknowledge this decision, even though I regret that the public prosecutor's office did not take into consideration the fact that no decision with the authority of res judicata has yet settled the question of the application of the law in such a case," stated Eric Coquerel. For this elected representative from Seine-Saint-Denis, it would have been "useful and in the interest of the law for the trial judges to be notified." In any case, "his hearing would have provided useful information for our work, given his obvious involvement, which was mentioned during other hearings. Furthermore, the absence of an obligation did not prevent him from responding to the summons, as he has done in other cases in the past," added Eric Coquerel.

No offense according to the prosecution

Asked about this press release, the Paris prosecutor's office confirmed that it had notified on May 6 "the filing without further action of this report, in accordance with the separation of powers." "The combination" of different articles of the Constitution "is analyzed as providing that Parliament controls the government but not the executive as a whole," according to the prosecutor's office.

This "prevents the failure to appear before the commission of inquiry from being considered an offence, for the Secretary General of the Presidency summoned as such and to respond to the prerogatives of the Head of State (in this case decisions of the President of the Republic or the participation of his services in meetings within the framework of his responsibilities)", insists the public prosecutor.

Since December, the commission of inquiry has been working on "the causes" of the "variation" and "gaps in fiscal and budgetary forecasts" observed for 2023 and 2024. Alexis Kohler cited scheduling issues, then "the principle of separation of powers," according to various letters addressed to Éric Coquerel. His departure from the Élysée Palace was announced at the end of March. This long-time right-hand man of Emmanuel Macron will join Société Générale in June as Deputy CEO.