Paris (AFP)

"Failures" but no resignation: under fire from critics since the killing of the police headquarters, Christophe Castaner admitted Sunday "malfunctions" in the monitoring of the assailant, close to radical Islam, while estimating to be the victim of a "political trial".

"Obviously, there were flaws ... Obviously, there is dysfunction," admitted the Minister of the Interior on TF1, three days after the bloody attack perpetrated by Mickael Harpon, the employee of the police prefecture (PP), which stabbed to death four officials Thursday.

According to the first lessons of the investigation, now in the hands of anti-terrorist services, this 45-year-old man was able to adhere to radical Islam and frequent people close to Salafist circles while he was employed in the prestigious intelligence service of the PP.

Invited to the 1:00 pm newscast, Mr. Castaner estimated that the main "malfunction" dated back to July 2015: Mr. Harpon, converted to Islam for a decade, would have justified in front of colleagues the Charlie Hebdo attack which happened a few months ago.

According to Mr. Castaner, a police officer in charge of radicalization then met with Mr. Harpon's colleagues, who would have decided not to report administrative reports to their superiors. "The malfunction is at that time," said the minister.

Criticized for having declared after the killing that Mr. Harpon "never presented any behavioral difficulties" nor "the slightest warning sign", Mr. Castaner put forward this flaw to justify himself.

"I am affirmative in the fact that no sign had appeared in the administrative record of the individual that suggests that he could be radicalized.I repeat it to you and I say it alas because if a sign had appeared, can -would have been able to avoid this, "said the minister, calling for" abandon the political trial "instructed, according to him, by those who claim his resignation including right and far right.

"The question (of my resignation, ed) does it pose? No", so decided Mr. Castaner, who received the support of the Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in the columns of the JDD, where he also announced two missions on the radicalization of counterterrorism agents.

The boss of the presidential party Stanislas Guerini, he denounced Sunday the "irresponsible" attitude of those who "race to the shallot" with the far right in demanding the resignation of Mr. Castaner.

- No jihadist cell -

Several times weakened since his arrival place Beauvau in the fall of 2018, the minister is however far from being finished with the controversy: he will have to explain himself behind closed doors before the parliamentary delegation to the intelligence, indicated his president Christian Cambon to AFP.

Meanwhile, crucial elements of the investigation remain to be clarified, including the blurred role of Mr. Harpon's wife, in custody since Thursday, and the amount of sensitive information that the attacker was able to access. the prefecture, where he worked since 2003.

"We do not know what information he had access to, for now we have no reason to believe that he was able to transmit information," said Secretary of State for the Interior on Sunday on BFMTV , Laurent Nuñez. "We must see clearly as soon as possible on this".

The Secretary of State has in any case "at this stage" rejected the assumption that the attacker could have been part of a jihadist cell.

Mr Nuñez also ruled out any quick changes at the head of the DRPP - where Mr Harpon was working - or a reform of this service that could be integrated into the Directorate-General for Internal Security (DGSI).

"At the moment, these kinds of questions do not arise, the priority is the investigation," said the one who led the ISB from 2017 to 2018. "If there were any malfunctions, will have sanctions, "he promised.

© 2019 AFP