Éric Halphen (born 10 October 1959) is a French judge best known as the

investigating magistrate In an inquisitorial system of law, the examining magistrate (also called investigating magistrate, inquisitorial magistrate, or investigating judge) is a judge who carries out pre-trial investigations into allegations of crime and in some cases ma ...

in the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

ian low-cost housing scandals of the 1990s.

Timeline

* 1959. (5 October) Born at Clichy-la-Garenne ( Hauts-de-Seine). Later received his baccalaureat in literature at

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

, and studied law at Assas. * 1982. Graduated from the

École nationale de la magistrature The French National School for the Judiciary (French: ''École nationale de la magistrature'' or ENM) is a French ''grande école'', founded in 1958 by French President Charles de Gaulle and the father of the current French Constitution, Michel D ...

(ENM). * 1984. Examining magistrate at

Douai Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, Dou ...

, and then Chartres. * 1989. Elected to the at

Créteil Créteil () is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Créteil is the ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-de-Marne department as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Cr� ...

. * 1994. Start of the . * 2002. Retired as a judge.

The Paris HLM scandal

In January 1994 Halphen began an inquiry following the discovery of a series of forged invoices between and companies that were providing services to

HLM An habitation à loyer modéré (HLM, , ), is a form of low-income housing in France, Algeria, Senegal, and Quebec. It may be public or private, with rent subsidies. HLMs constitute 16% of all housing in France.RPR political party was imprisoned for his involvement. The inquiry also investigated the conduct of the HLM office in the neighbouring Hauts-de-Seine

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

, at the time run by Didier Schuller and Patrick Balkany, close associates of Charles Pasqua. In December 1994, Jean-Pierre Maréchal, Halphen's father-in-law, was arrested in Roissy when he was seen receiving a briefcase full of money from Didier Schuller, in what was later described as a failed attempt to bribe Halphen. Didier Schuller disappeared, only returning from hiding in 2002. In 1996 the former vice president of OPAC – the public body controlling low-cost housing – François Ciolina, exposed corruption surrounding the HLM apartment owned by the son of

Jean Tiberi Jean Tiberi (born January 30, 1935) is a French politician who was mayor of Paris from May 22, 1995 to March 24, 2001. , he was mayor of the 5th arrondissement of Paris and deputy to the French National Assembly from the second district of Par ...

, the mayor of Paris. In June of that year, Halphen ordered a search of the mayor's house only to be prevented from doing so when the policemen on the scene, following orders from their superiors, refused to take part. They were later sanctioned. In 1999 Jean Tiberi was again investigated for "complicity in corruption". The mayor, acting in his role as head of Opac, denied all wrongdoing, and in November, Halphen closed the case. The following year, shortly after the death of Jean-Claude Méry, the newspaper

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

published the contents of a film made in December 1995 by journalist Arnaud Hamelin. In the tape, Méry spoke of how he had delivered 5 million Francs in cash to Michel Roussin, chief of staff of then prime minister Jacques Chirac. Halphen relaunched the HLM inquiry, and in March 2001 summoned president Chirac to give testimony in the case, although Chirac refused claiming that it would be incompatible with his duties as president. In September 2001 the court of appeal ruled that Halphen did not have sufficient grounds to reopen the case and overturned all its findings. He was removed from the investigations and replaced with judge Armand Riberolles. In January 2002 Halphen announced that he was quitting his position as judge and turned to writing. He was a vocal supporter of

Jean-Pierre Chevènement Jean-Pierre Chevènement (; born 9 March 1939L ...

's presidential campaign, later distancing himself after Chevènement fell in with the political right. He is a member of Roland Castro's 'Mouvement de l'Utopie Concrète'.

Bibliography

* 2002 : ''Sept ans de solitude'' (''Seven Years of Solitude''), Editions Gallimard * 2006 : ''Baisers maudits'' (''Cursed Kisses''), novel published by * 2006 : ''Le bal des outrés'' (''The Extravagant Ball''), Editions Privé

External links

*
BBC - Chirac corruption inquiry halted

BBC - Chirac judge claims sabotage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halphen, Eric 1959 births Living people 20th-century French judges Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University alumni People from Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine 21st-century French judges

Timeline

The Paris HLM scandal

Bibliography

See also

External links