The former supreme judge of Monaco, Didier Linotte, forced to explain himself before public security. A lawyer by training and former rector of the Nice Academy, the one who presided over more than ten years the highest Monegasque jurisdiction was preparing this Tuesday evening to spend a second night in police custody.
For almost 48 hours, the ex-magistrate has been questioned by investigators from the Principality. Especially on two decisions rendered under his presidency by the Supreme Court in 2018 and in 2020. The first judged “illegal” The abandonment by the state of a real estate project on the fishermen’s esplanade, where a new building and a museum were to push. The second granted the Caroli group, promoter of the program a record compensation of 136,992,000 euros at the costs of the Monegasque state!
The state screams to “fraud”
Two court decisions which for the princely state could be the result of a conspiracy. The princely government almost a year ago claimed to have “Discovered extremely serious facts, revealing the bias of Didier Linotte […] and the thoroughbred fraud “.
The state was then a civil party in an already existing procedure, initiated from 2023 by the SCI Esperanza, in other words Patrice Pastor. The “King of Real Estate” in Monaco then considering himself injured by the actions of an alleged “Cabinet of the Shadow” Baptized “G4”, which would have taken power in the Principality.
Theory developed by a crow since the online, in the fall of 2021, of the “rock files”. A massive documents leak from the hacking of Me Thierry Lacoste’s mailbox. The lawyer and childhood friend of Prince Albert II who is appointed as one of the alleged members of the “G4”, as well as the former administrator of the crown of the Crown Claude Palmero, the former director of the sovereign’s cabinet, Laurent Anselmi, or even … Didier Linotte, who as president of the Supreme Court would have rendered penalizing decisions for the Monegasque state in the name of occult interests.
“This file is a fable”
“What Didier Linotte” firmly disputes “retorts the lawyer who has assisted him for 48 hours. “We are told a story, this file is nothing more than a fable”hammered this Tuesday evening Me Pascal-Pierre Garbarini, who recalls that the prescriptions targeted “were rendered in collegiality by 5 to 7 members of the Supreme Court”. Magistrates “Among which are the most eminent lawyers in Europe”.
Him “Do not imagine that these lawyers with international reputation could have been corrupt by Didier Linotte”. Who certainly chaired the Supreme Court but was not “Not even the rapporteur” of these cases. For Me Garbarini “All this does not make sense”. All the less since according to him the accusation is essentially built on “Defamatory accusations” Rock files.
On the bottom, Didier Linotte’s lawyer intends to demonstrate that “All this is a fabric of lies”, “A straw fetu”… having nevertheless led to the placement in police custody, for now almost 48 hours, of the old highest magistrate of the Principality. “At 77, when he follows heavy treatment”. Didier Linotte’s lawyer denounces a “unsuitable procedure” and says “Shocked” by this judicial choice, even if the police services “have been both human, understanding and professional”.
Private advice from the judge
After a final hearing, Didier Linotte could be referred this Wednesday morning. The ex-president of the Supreme Court would then find himself before an investigating judge who will have to rule on his possible indictment. As part of the Fishermen’s Esplanade affair, but perhaps not only.
According to our information, Didier Linotte was also questioned about his ancillary activities at the time when he sat in the Principality. Through the company Alma Marceau Transactions, the former Supreme Juge also lavished, in the private sector, his advice. A commercial activity, at the time authorized by its status as a temporary magistrate. But to which he had been asked to put an end in 2017, in full assessment of Greeco in Monaco, the emanation of the European Council responsible for the fight against corruption. “That’s what he did”assures Me Garbarini again.
