CoE Anti-Corruption watchdog Head Mrcela to EF on French Presidential: ALL Politicians to be Cleaned

*Strasbourg/CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- Marin Mrcela, from Croatia, President of CoE's Anti-Corruption Watchdog, known as "GRECO", replying to an "Eurofora"'s Question on the forthcoming French Presidential Elections of April/May 2017, stressed, in substance, that, as a matter of Pinciple, "All" Top Candidates have to be Checked and "Cleaned" from any eventualy Pending serious Allegations, and Not Only Some among them, Excluding the Others, particularly according to their Political Color, since that would be Contary to Democracy, Fairness, and Efficient Prevention of Corruption, absolutely opposite to CoE's Legal Standards.

 - "All Politicians Must be Cleaned !", strongly and clearly Replied, immediately, President Mrcela, to "Eurofora"s Topical Question about the Problems recently seen in France, where All main Candidates of the Right are notoriously Harassed by various Judicial Enquiries and Prosecutions, while, on the Contrary, Noone among the Left's Candidates has been yet disturbed, Despite growing suspicions and/or denonciations at least about one among them, (Comp., f.ex. : ....).

 

+ Invited by "Eurofora" to make it Clear whether he really Meant that, in such cases as that in France nowadays, such Moves should, normaly, affect not only the Top Candidates of the Right, but Also of the Left, GRECO's President was Adamant, reacting categoricaly, with a sharp : - "Absolutely !"...

 Interestingly, he spoke to "Eurofora" just after Launching a New "Evaluation Round" by GRECO, for the Next few Years, which will be Focused on "Prevention of Corruption in Top Governemental Functions, and Law Enforcement", obviously including similar cases.
++ President Mrcela confirmed, indeed, (in Reply to another relevant "Eurofora"s Question), that this New Round of GRECO's Monitoring, which has just officialy Started Today, included also Investigations about France.

Meanwhile, shortly After notoriously Harassing the Head of France's main Opposition Party, that of Center-Right "Republicans", former President of the Country, Nicolas Sarkozy, with Various Judicial Enquiries and Prosecutions, during these Latest Years of the Out-Going Socialist Government, suddenly, in a Surprizing, Last-Minute Move, at the Eve of the Crucial French Presidential Election, certain Judges and Prosecutors, following some Leftist Press Reports, Started to Harass also Francois Fillon, former Prime Minister and currently the official Presidential Candidate of that Same, Center-Right "Republican" Party. To all this, wete Added, also, 2 Different Enquiries and Prosecutions against the Rightist "FN" Party's Candidate to the Presidentials, Marine Le Pen, (See, f.ex. : ....).

Moreover, while the main Accusations against those 2 Top Candidates from the Right side of the Political spectrum concerned more or less Controversial claims about comparatively Lenient matters, (such as, f.ex., the Fact that he always Used to Work Together with his Wife during all his long career, for Fillon, always declaring her legal pay from Funds for Assistants routinely disposed by any MP who can, reportedly, do practicaly what he likes with them, during his mandates, and the even Less serious Fact that Marine Le Pen had simply Replied to a Slander claiming that her Party would be Assimilated to .. Islamist Terrorists of ISIL, with a Tweeter reproducing Photos, already Published by Others in the Web, showing real ISIL's Atrocities, in order to Remind the obviously Huge Differencies between a Controversial but Legal Political Party playing the Democratic Game, and Brutal, Deadly Islamist Terrorism), nevertheless, a Totaly Opposite stance was, curiously, kept by French Judges and/or Prosecutors, even for Serious Accusations against Candidates of the Left :

- Thus, f.ex., Center-Left's Candidate Macron, (a Former Councelor of Socialist President Hollande and former Minister in the Out-Going Socialist Government), has notoriously been, in the Meantime, Accused, by various Medias etc., for at least 5 Cases with Suspicions of more or less serious, eventual Corruption Risks, at least apparent, concerning :

(1) Alleged Favoritism etc. in the way that were Spend Public Funds and/or selected those who Benefited from such Money, in a Collective Trip to Las Vegas (USA) as Minister ; (2) Various Allegations/Suspicions related to his Eventual Sources of Funds supporting his Electoral Campaign, (for which he is the Only Candidate to be Deprived from a pre-existing Political Party) ; (3) Plagiarism to the Detriment of Top MEP, former Minister of Foreign affairs, Defense, and JHA, Michele Alliot-Marie, whose Electoral Campaign Logo, Moto and/or Introduction, have been Spectacularly ...Copied, almost Entirely, Texto, by Macron's Electoral Pamphlets (See : ....) ; (4) Conflict of Interests, via his Medical Counselor -Obliged to Resign- and Brother of a Top Member of his Electoral Campaign Staff, who used to be Paid a lot of Money by a Controversial Private "Big Pharma" Company, known also for the Deadly Drug Scandal of "Mediator" in the recent Past ; (5) Allegations concerning his Wife's private Property and its Real Value ;  (6) a Controversial Fiscal manouvre, Spending Half a Million : 500.000 € for "Repairs" of her Wife's Buildings, in only 1 Year, allegedly abused as a means to Avoid Paying Taxes on his Revenues, (etc).

French Judges and/or Prosecutors, However, apparently Droped, until now, All those Accusations or Suspicions concerning Macron, (only opening, very Lately, a simple Anonymous Investigation on the "Las Vegas" case, But withOut Involving Legaly the former Socialist Minister himself, Not even Mentioning his Name !)...

Nevertheless, Recently, at least 3 Different, Independent NGOs, generaly Well Known for being Dedicated to the Fight against Corruption in general ("Anti-Cor"), Independent Medical Information ("Formindep"), and Public Expenditute ("IREF"), have reportedly Written and/or Officialy Alerted the competent Judges and/or Prosecutors, Asking for various relevant Investigations to be Launched, until now in Vain... [Data Partly UPDATED].

It's true that Governing Socialist Parties, in General, seem to be very Keen, also in Various Other Countries, to Avoid, almost at Any Price, several notable Anti-Corruption Investigations and/or Legal Prosecutions against their Main Political Allies, as, f.ex., it can be seen Recently also in the case of Romania :

- After a Previous Socialist Government had notoriously Attempted even to ... Destitute the Democraticaly Elected, ChristianDemocrat/EPP President of Romania, some Years ago, Troian Basescu, who had supported Anti-Corruption Enquiries particularly on a Former Socialist Prime Minister, (See, f.ex. : ....), Nowadays, it's also anOther Socialist Government, in that Same Country, which Notoriously tried to systematicaly Avoid any Investigations/Legal Prosecutions for various Corruption-related Accusations against several of its Political Allies, provoking an Unprecedented Popular Upheaval, with a lot of persisting Massive Public Demonstrations, etc., which Obliged that controversial Government to Back down, until now...

    >>> - But, as Romania's Chief Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, Ms Laura Codruta Kövesi, told "Eurofora" Today, (after her Speech to the relevant CoE's Conference on GRECO's work, earlier this same day : Comp. Supra), rumours Warned that the current Socialist Government of the country, might, eventualy, make anOther, Different Attempt to Prevent Anti-Corruption Enquiries/Prosecutions against several among its Pals, by Drafting a New Legislative Bill to DeCriminalize such Cases, which might be Adopted by the National Parliament, if everything goes as scheduled by the Socialists, "at the Latest on June" 2017, i.e. "just before MPs leave for Summer Recess".

    That's another, still on-going, Issue on the making, that GRECO will probably Follow very closely in the foreseable Future, in the Framework, precisely, of its New "Evaluation Round" on "Preventing Corruption and Promoting Integrity in Central Governments' Top Executive functions", as well as among "Law Enforcement agencies", which Obviously Fits Well too the present French Case, as it emerged from Today's PanEuropean/International CoE's Conference in Strasbourg to Launch this New Monitoring period, in Cooperation and with the Participation, here, also of relevant Senior Officials from CoE's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE's Rapporteur on Corruption, MEP Michelle Nicoletti), the EU (OLAF's Director General, Giovanni Kessler), the OECD, IMF, UNO, etc.

    + But, another Original parameter of this 2017 CoE's Conference, that "Eurofora" attended, was the Fact that it Opened an Interesting area for Efficient Cooperation with relevant Civil Society and Citizens' possible moves, thanks also to the Participation of Representatives from EU Ombudsperson, Emily O'Reilly, NGOs such as "Transparency International", and "International Consortium of Investigative Journalists" (ICIJ), etc.

    For that purpose, Each Time that CoE's Anti-Corruption Watchdog starts Monitoring a given Country, it systematicaly Makes an Appeal to Any Persons which might have Interesting Insights, Tips or Leads, with any useful relevant Facts or Tips, to Contribute in the Forthcoming Investigations at a PanEuropean level.

(../..)