The Paris administrative court canceled last week the approval obtained in October 2022 by the Anticor association from the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP), according to a decision consulted on Friday December 27 by Agence France -Press (AFP). It was contacted in December 2022 by two former members of the anti-corruption association requesting the cancellation of the renewal of the approval granted on October 4, 2022.
This approval previously allowed Anticor to refer the matter to the HATVP on suspicion “breach of probity, situation of conflict of interest, non-compliance with reporting obligations or even so-called “revolving door” rules” concerning public officials (politicians and public officials), as detailed on its website by the association which was approved for the first time in 2016.
The two applicants criticized the HATVP in particular for not having carried out an examination of the renewal request and for having relied, to grant it, on the anti-corruption approval granted to Anticor on April 2, 2021 by Jean Castex, then prime minister. However, the Paris administrative court annulled this decree in June 2023, which renewed this authorization for three years allowing the association to take legal action in matters of corruption.
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Long political and judicial standoff
The decision was confirmed on appeal in November 2023 and by the Council of State on November 6. “The HATVP does not demonstrate, contrary to what it claims, to have examined whether the association fulfilled all the conditions to obtain the renewal of its approval”considered the administrative court. The lawyer for the two applicants did not immediately respond to AFP.
“This decision was inexorable since our anti-corruption approval had been canceled due to poor drafting by the Prime Minister's services and the validity of one impacts the validity of the other”reacted to AFP Paul Cassia, president of Anticor, regretting that the HATVP did not intervene “to save this approval” during the hearing on December 6. This cancellation “has however no impact on the activity of the association”he estimated.
After a long standoff with the government and defeats before the administrative courts, the association obtained a new approval at the beginning of September, signed by Gabriel Attal, just before his departure from Matignon. Since 2015, this system has allowed it to intervene in legal proceedings, including sensitive cases, in particular by becoming a civil party in the event of inaction by the prosecution. Founded in 2002, the association, which claims 7,000 members, experienced internal dissensions in 2020 and 2021.
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