Paris (AFP)

Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Friday that he had seized the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM) for "suspected disciplinary misconduct" concerning the former head of the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) Eliane Houlette in the so-called "fadettes" case .

The Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti had launched in September an administrative investigation targeting three PNF magistrates, including Ms. Houlette, to "check if any breaches had been committed" during investigations to identify the "mole" who could have informed Nicolas Sarkozy that he was wiretapped in a corruption case.

The investigation "concluded on presumptions of disciplinary faults likely to be reproached" to Ms. Houlette, "more precisely in her managerial behavior", and "of possible conflicts of interest between her professional exercise and her private relations", specifies the press release from the Prime Minister.

The investigation also targeted the two magistrates in charge of the case.

If "no ethical breach was found" concerning the first, Ulrika-Lovisa Delaunay-Weiss, the Prime Minister noted for the other, Patrice Amar, "various elements likely to give rise to serious doubt as to the respect of his ethical obligations ".

He asks the CSM to investigate, "if necessary, to draw consequences of a disciplinary nature".

The PNF had been implicated for having peeled the detailed telephone records ("fadettes") of tenors of the bar - including Eric Dupond-Moretti - to identify who could have informed the former president and his lawyer Thierry Herzog that they were on listen.

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Sarkozy and Herzog were sentenced to three years in prison, one of which was firm, for corruption and influence peddling.

The emotion aroused by this case had pushed the former Minister of Justice Nicole Belloubet to request a report from the General Inspectorate of Justice (IGJ).

Mr. Dupond-Moretti was angry against "methods of barbouzes" and had filed a complaint for "invasion of privacy", before withdrawing the evening of his appointment as Minister of Justice in July.

He moved away from this case in favor of Matignon, in reaction to the indignation of magistrates accusing him of being judge and party.

The Chancellery had announced the opening of an administrative investigation in September, estimating that the IGJ report showed that "the facts raised would be likely to be regarded as breaches of the duty of diligence, professional rigor and loyalty" .

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