At the Nîmes Court of Appeal, Attorney General Xavier Bonhomme: increasing the seizure of criminal assets “this seems essential to me”

Xavier Bonhomme est le procureur général à la cour d’appel de Nîmes. HOCINE ROUAGDIA

Xavier Bonhomme dirige le parquet général de la cour d’appel de Nîmes et supervise la politique pénale des procureurs de la République dans le Gard, la Lozère, le Vaucluse et l’Ardèche.

You reiterated your commitment to implementing, coordinating and accentuating the seizure of criminal assets, what criminal policy do you wish to pursue within your general public prosecutor's office and that which you wish to articulate within the different public prosecutor's offices of your jurisdiction ?

As soon as I arrived a few months ago, I wanted to actually ask the public prosecutors, because it seems to me to be an essential criminal response, to develop the seizure of criminal assets because it is a real criminal response, it is a real sanction which, certainly must be transformed at the level of the judgment by a confiscation pronounced by the magistrates of the seat, but truly, it is the criminal response which is the most feared in reality by delinquents, traffickers, fraudsters of all kinds and as I actually noticed when analyzing the figures in any case of seizures carried out in the preceding years within this court of law; rsquo;call, as I realized that we actually had significant margins for progress compared to what I was able to experience in my previous positions, I asked for emphasis to be placed on this type of legal action which seems essential to me given that we have been experiencing an upsurge in drug traffickers in Nîmes for several months. all orders.

For these confiscations hurt traffickers and fraudsters of all kinds ?

Because their property is simply being taken from them, and indeed, they fear being hit in the wallet much more than a possible prison sentence which will not happen in the best of cases, in the months or years that follow, so it is truly the most feared sanction. So much so that as soon as we seize, there are recourses which are exercised by the accused and their lawyers since the court of appeal is regularly seized of ;rsquo;appeals on these seizures. We have quasi-systematic calls in this type of procedure.

Significant margins of progress regarding the amount of seizures made at the Nîmes Court of Appeal.

You mentioned 16 million euros seized in 2023 on the territory of the Nîmes Court of Appeal compared to four to five million euros seized in previous years, how do you project yourself in relation to the years to come ?

The increase from one year to the next is quite significant afterward, you have to be careful with the analysis because it only takes one year you seize a fixed asset of considerable value so that the figure explodes. This being compared to what I have experienced in my previous positions, we have significant room for improvement with regard to the amount of seizures made at the Nîmes Court of Appeal. To give you an example, even if the value of the goods is not identical obviously but when I was at the Nice prosecutor's office, we seized a lot each year than on the entire court of The call from Nîmes means that we have room for improvement and that the margins for progress are considerable.

Can this seizure of criminal assets focus on the entire spectrum of delinquency: facts of concealed work, fraud social ?

Absolutely, this can concern the entire spectrum of delinquency: from large-scale trafficking to small-scale trafficking, acts of fraud, acts of concealed work. You have the example of someone who "works undeclared", even if it’s not on a large scale either, we can consider seizing their assets. bank accounts if there are sums, his work tool, a vehicle, a van or even his real estate. All this is possible but magistrates and especially investigators must have the reflex.

Accentuate seizures: “because it seems essential to me” HOCINE ROUAGDIA

Emphasize input: " because it seems essential to me" (Xavier Bonhomme).

 

Basically, you are saying that this penal policy will become more accentuated.

It will become more pronounced, in any case, that’s what I asked my public prosecutors because it seems essential to me.

As Attorney General, you who coordinate the action of the various prosecutors in the territory of the Nîmes Court of Appeal ( Nîmes, Avignon, Lozère, Ardèche), how do you understand this phenomenon of narcobandism: shootings, deaths, how do you see this??

We are dealing with a phenomenon which is not limited to the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal of Nîmes which goes far beyond the framework of Nîmes and surrounding areas since, depending on the circumstances, we we realize that we are in the distribution of territories, of drug traffickers, of deal points for which this brings appetites which come from regions which are much further away than those of Nîmes, I am thinking of the Marseillais who are also trying obviously to recover certain territories. We are not only in the neighborhood war in Nîmes…

Xavier Bonhomme and Jérôme Bonet, Thursday in the Gard prefecture. HOCINE ROUAGDIA

So we are in a war that is more regional…

We are obviously in a more regional war which can sometimes even go beyond and we must take all possible actions which involve several types of responses. First of all, there are clean market operations which are a good thing in themselves and which make it possible to put an end to certain deal points. But on the other hand, these actions are not sufficient since it is necessary to carry out in-depth investigations to try to identify the networks, their ramifications and finally, on a more heritage aspect, to carry out all possible actions to take the ill-gotten gains of these traffickers.

What is your feeling, is it worry, determination, both? There is there were still deaths and injuries a few days ago…hellip;. How do you look at this ?

I am determined and all of my colleagues are determined to move forward. But we must not be naive in telling you that in a year, there will be no more traffickers in Nîmes or in its region, that is obvious. But we are determined to do everything to stem this scourge which is blighting neighborhoods and cities. I think that the resources we put into it, the actions we carry out, the investigations carried out by the Nîmes public prosecutor's office and by the Marseille Jirs (in a completely coordinated manner) will allow us in any case to ;advance positively on this axis.

Weapons: strong criminal responses

 

We see heavy weapons being fired, the police or gendarmerie find weapons of war, as Attorney General, what directive did you give ?

It’s severity and determination. That is to say, if someone is apprehended with a weapon even without having used it, they make a strong criminal response, which I have experienced before, these are criminal responses for immediate appearances because we do not have the right to possess weapons, a fortiori which may be similar to weapons of war. And then obviously, when there is shooting, systematic investigations are opened to try to identify the weapons used, we do not necessarily find the weapons but we can find the ammunition (not systematically) and then do links with businesses that we have in our portfolio are very important. But the BA-BA and the reflex of investigators and prosecutors.

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