Former Head of Louvre Is Charged in Artifact Trafficking Case

PARIS — The previous president of the Louvre has been charged with complicity in fraud and cash laundering in reference to an investigation into Egyptian artifacts that have been trafficked over the previous decade, French prosecutors mentioned on Thursday.

Jean-Luc Martinez, who was the president and director of the Louvre from 2013 to 2021, was launched below judicial supervision after he was charged, the Paris prosecutor’s workplace mentioned.

The prosecutor’s workplace didn’t present extra particulars concerning the investigation, which was first reported by Le Canard Enchaîné and Le Monde.

Beneath the French authorized system, the costs towards Mr. Martinez point out that investigators suspect him of involvement in a criminal offense however he might not essentially stand trial. The fees might be dropped at any level if the police uncover new proof. Advanced authorized investigations usually take a number of years to unfold in France.

Representatives for the Louvre declined to touch upon Thursday. Attorneys for Mr. Martinez weren’t instantly reachable for remark however instructed Agence France-Presse that he firmly disputed the costs.

“For now he’s saving his statements for the judiciary, and he has little question that his good religion will likely be established,” Jacqueline Laffont and François Artuphel, Mr. Martinez’s legal professionals, instructed the information company.

The fees have been a shocking flip of occasions for Mr. Martinez, who’s presently France’s official ambassador for worldwide cooperation on heritage points and spearheaded efforts to safeguard artifacts vulnerable to looting and destruction in battle zones throughout his time on the Louvre.

Mr. Martinez had written a report that France introduced to the U.N. Academic, Scientific and Cultural Group in 2015 that included 50 proposals, just like the digital mapping of threatened websites and elevated border controls, to guard antiquities from looters.

Two French Egyptologists have been additionally questioned by the police in reference to the case however have been launched with out expenses, the prosecutor’s workplace mentioned. In line with Le Monde, in 2019, a colleague of the Egyptologists alerted them that he had grown suspicious of the provenance of a Tutankhamen stele that ended up on the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi mentioned it was unable to touch upon the specifics of the case due to the continued investigation.

“Louvre Abu Dhabi applies a strict worldwide protocol for artworks getting into the gathering, as outlined within the intergovernmental settlement between Abu Dhabi and France, signed in 2007,” the museum mentioned. “This protocol is strictly aligned with the 1970 UNESCO conference and follows essentially the most stringent requirements of main museums on the planet.”

Alex Marshall contributed reporting from London.