La Familia Grande (Threshold Ed), the work in which Camille Kouchner accuses her father-in-law, the political scientist Olivier Duhamel, of having abused his twin brother, had the effect of a media earthquake. Many voices were raised against the omerta, starting with that of Ariane Chemin. The great reporter who wrote the paper for World who announced the release of the book analyzed this law of silence on the set of C Politics, Sunday 10 January 2021: "What is interesting in this story is that we have a familial omerta and here it is coupled with an immense social omerta because the power of Olivier Duhamel was very extensive ", she explains before specifying that Olivier Duhamel was "the king everywhere."
Olivier Duhamel was very well surrounded
The 70-year-old constitutional scholar had strong, high-ranking relationships. About fifty people were also aware of these allegations since 2008, and not just any, as recalls Lilia Hassaine, the columnist of Daily, in the program broadcast on Tuesday January 12, 2021. Car Olivier Duhamel was part of the Le Siècle group, one of the most famous clubs in the French establishment. He was even elected president on January 1, 2020.
"We learn that three people had been alerted and said nothing: Jean Veil, lawyer and son of Simone Veil, Marc Guillaume, former secretary general of the government now prefect of Paris and Frédéric Mion president of Science Po Paris", explained the brilliant columnist, referring to a long survey published this week by Release. These three politicians were indeed also part of this very private club founded in 1944 by the radical-socialist journalist Georges Bérard-Quélin and today splashed by the Duhamel scandal.
What is Le Siècle?
The club now has around 700 members, including a majority of men. To enter, you must be sponsored by two people then go through a selection process. At the end of the meeting, elected officials can attend the meeting on the last Wednesday of each month, which takes place at 33 rue du faubourg Saint-Honoré, near the Élysée Palace. After the aperitif, the dinner is organized in small groups of people who eat around a table president responsible for initiating the discussions. If the circle is not the place where decisions are made, it nevertheless serves as a "bridge between worlds which are too ignorant of each other in France (politicians, senior officials, journalists, industrialists, bankers", as reported The diplomatic world. Emmanuel Macron or Nicolas Sarkozy were one day part of it.
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