Jean-Luc Martinez, former director of the Louvre in Paris, has been officially declared a corruption suspect. He will be responsible for the illegal purchase of works of art looted in the Middle East. Martinez was placed under surveillance by the French judiciary.
Reason for doubt is the purchase of Egyptian archaeological finds by the Louvre branch in Abu Dhabi in 2016. Five objects were purchased with a value of at least 15 million euros, some say tens of millions of euros. It contained hieroglyphs and a pink granite stone with Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s name on it.
In 2018, the courts launched an investigation into suspicions about the origin of the artefacts. Suspected using fake authenticity certificates. The papers contain information about the provenance of the art and the sellers. But the judiciary thinks it is actually looted art. It is alleged that Egyptian artifacts were stolen during the Arab Spring and then illegally resold.
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Former museum director Martinez is now officially suspected of ‘fraud in an organized context’. He would realize the fraud with the papers and close his eyes. Martinez ran the Louvre from 2013 to 2021. Today she works at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an ambassador for the preservation of world heritage.
Three persons are suspected in this case, including two prominent employees of the Louvre, an art dealer and an antiques expert. The latter would also be involved in the sale of works of art from a museum in New York that were seized with false documents.
Source: NOS
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