Swimming against a tide of fraud in France


Justice Under Siege: One Woman's Battle Against a European Oil Giant

Eva Joly

Arcadia Books £15.99

Jason M Hadden
Napoleon described the investigating magistrate as 'the most powerful man in France'. This remarkable autobiography, despite Eva Joly being female (times have changed, after all), reinforces that claim.



As a judge in France, for six years Ms Joly pursued the global monetary mafia with determination and passion as she investigated a financial scandal at the state-owned petrol giant Elf Aquitaine. Close to £2 billion had been siphoned off from its accounts to pay for luxurious lifestyles and bribes. In addition, money was allegedly paid out in illegal sweeteners to buy oil contracts, and even used to fund a variety of political parties. It was a scale of corruption that rocked France to its foundations.



One defendant, Christine Deviers-Joncour, dubbed herself the 'whore of the republic' as a result of her relationship with the former French foreign minister Roland Dumas.



Following Ms Joly's investigations, more than 30 people were tried and convicted on corruption charges, including both Ms Deviers-Joncour and Mr Dumas - with the conviction of the latter being overturned in 2003. This was not a case of investigating seedy underworld types; politicians, company directors and even lawyers were put on trial.



For this, Ms Joly was attacked both personally and professionally by 'the system'; she received regular death threats, her private and public telephones were illegally tapped, and her home and offices were burgled several times - although no arrests were made in connection with the break-ins. Neither Dumas or Deviers-Joncour were implicated.



Justice Under Siege is the story of an ordinary lawyer, dedicated to her profession and determined to find the truth, even if it meant putting her own safety at risk - four policemen had to guard her around the clock for the duration of the investigation.



'I had no idea of the extent of the corruption,' she writes. 'I'd assumed that people in general respected the laws. But reality outstripped fiction. There was an ocean of fraud at the highest level. Every day I found something new.'



Ms Joly describes the people she exposed as considering themselves immune to the law, untroubled by the rules that affect lesser mortals. Where money was king and corruption its able mistress, according to Ms Joly, this particular game had no bounds.



My one criticism of this book is the opening two chapters, which, while crammed with useful facts and scene-setting scenarios, are somewhat dry, and do not sit comfortably with what is to follow. This is a shame, because once you arrive at Eva Joly's own words, it is a fascinating tale of a person standing up to the system, and gives credibility once more to Napoleon's words.