According to the Geneva cantonal court, the luxury trip to Abu Dhabi, to which the former State Councilor was invited, was not an unauthorized acceptance of benefits. Is this the beginning of Maudet’s political comeback?
Have a good laugh: The former Geneva State Councilor Pierre Maudet is acquitted in the second instance.
Geneva waited almost three months for this judgment – now it comes with a bang: the Geneva cantonal court acquitted Pierre Maudet on all counts. In February, the police court of first instance sentenced the former State Councilor to a conditional fine of 300 days at CHF 400 each and a compensation payment of CHF 50,000 to the canton of Geneva.
In essence, the process revolved around a five-day luxury trip to Abu Dhabi, which Maudet and his family and Chief of Staff Patrick Baud-Lavigne took in November 2015. The program at that time included a visit to the Formula 1 race, various semi-official meetings and pleasant hours in one of the most expensive hotels in the world. Cost: around 50,000 francs. The Emirati royal family paid the bill in full – which Maudet had initially concealed.
“Advantage must be judged as unjustified”
The Geneva cantonal court now ruled that the trip did not meet the criminal offense of accepting benefits and acquitted him on this point. But as a look at the verdict shows, the matter is not black and white: the judges very well reprimand the ex-state council in their reasoning. The externally financed luxury trip, which the functionaries were only granted because of their offices, very well represents “an advantage, i.e. a service with a high value for money”.
“This advantage must be judged as unjustified,” writes the court. This is because, on the one hand, the equivalent value is far beyond the custom of a courtesy gift. On the other hand, Maudet could not claim that the trip was official, even if he shook hands with Emirati dignitaries there. “The fact that Maudet has decided to combine the useful with the pleasant does not change the unjustified nature of the advantages,” said the judges.
So why do they still acquit him? It has to do with the sender of the gift. It has not been proven that the Emirati royal house granted the advantage with the intention of influencing the Council of State and its chief of staff in the exercise of their functions, according to the judgment. Accordingly, Maudet and Baud-Lavigne could not be accused of having accepted the gift with a view to their official business. The criminal charge of accepting benefits should therefore be rejected, ruled the Geneva cantonal court. The lawyers Grégoire Mangeat, Fanny Margairaz and Yaël Hayat, who represent Maudet, are pleased in an initial statement.
Surveys were not punishable either
The trial dealt with a second charge, a 2017 survey that the two organizers of the Abu Dhabi trip funded on behalf of Maudet. The public prosecutor’s office wanted to convict him for taking advantage of this as well. The cantonal court acquitted Maudet on this point as well. However, this assessment is less surprising than that of the trip – even the first instance police court came to the same conclusion.
The court awards Maudet party compensation of around 40,000 francs, which the canton of Geneva has to pay. At the same time, Maudet and his chief of staff are asked to pay: the criminal proceedings were only even started because by accepting the gift they had shown “conduct contrary to their duties”. In addition, they had deliberately made the investigation more difficult through coordinated concealment tactics. The court ruled that they would have to pay the procedural costs related to the trip.
Return to politics?
For many years, Pierre Maudet was the undisputed political star in the westernmost canton of Switzerland. He founded the youth parliament, presided over the once proud radicals (who later united with the liberals to form the FDP), became a city councilor and, at the tender age of 34, was already a state councilor. In 2017 he was an official Federal Council candidate and achieved a remarkable result.
In spring 2018 it was confirmed with a brilliant result in the Geneva government. Shortly afterwards, as the inconsistencies surrounding the Abu Dhabi trip found their way into the public bit by bit, its decline began. After the FDP had excluded him in summer 2020, he continued to serve as a non-party state council, but surprisingly submitted his resignation in November 2020 and was not re-elected in the spring of this year.
Since then he has been working for a Geneva IT company. A return to politics is anything but impossible, as he suggested at the end of the appeal process – and with the acquittal that has now taken place, the chances increase further. The next cantonal elections will take place in spring 2023.