"Three experienced personalities from the world of museums and the art market" were asked by the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul-Malak, to "take stock of the legal framework, the acquisition procedures and their implementation work, at the time of the facts and today", specifies the ministry in a press release.
This mission will be carried out by Arnaud Oseredczuk, adviser-master at the Court of Auditors and member of the ethics committee of the Ministry of Culture, Marie-Christine Labourdette, president of the Château de Fontainebleau and former director of the museums of France, and Christian Giacomotto, in particular chairman of the audit committee of the Agence France Museum and member of the artistic council of the national museums.
The latter, supported by the General Inspectorate of Cultural Affairs, will have to submit their conclusions and formulate their recommendations in the summer of 2022, specifies the ministry.
Jean-Luc Martinez, at the head of the largest museum in the world from 2013 to 2021, was indicted at the end of May for "laundering and complicity in fraud in an organized gang" in this file, facts which he disputes "with the greatest firmness" according to his defense.
Since February 2020, an investigating judge has been in charge of investigations in this investigation into suspicions of trafficking in antiquities from the Near and Middle East.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Louvre Museum announced on Monday that they are taking civil action in this case, the first claiming to be "victim of trafficking in Egyptian antiquities".
Regarding the ongoing legal proceedings, the Minister of Culture will make "no comment", it is indicated.
The latter also recalls "the importance that France attaches to the partnership with the United Arab Emirates, which has enabled the creation and exemplary success of the Louvre Abu Dhabi and which the current affair can in no way call into question" .
Latest development in the context of this investigation: five Egyptian coins, in the possession of the Metropolitan Museum in New York but potentially from looting, were recently seized by the New York justice system.
© 2022 AFP