The Clearstream Affair (L'Enquête)

Good morning.

Denis Robert?

Captain Julien.

We're here to search your home.

Open the blinds!

Could you sit down?

Take the computers.

And that Dictaphone...

Take that too.

Do you agree to a DNA test?

- Why? - To identify the raven.

Denis, what's going on?

Don't worry... It's okay.

Could you wait in the living room?

If I'd known this investigation would get me into such shit...

Sorry, can I get some air?

Go with him.

Go ahead.

That I'd have on my back a multinational,

banks, lawyers, bailiffs,

police, judges, journalists,

French Intelligence, both internal and external,

a fratricidal war between the two key French arms firms,

Thomson and EADS,

and two candidates for the French presidency...

I honestly wouldn't have done it.

But I couldn't have guessed,

so I investigated.

A few years earlier...

Paris Offices of Libération newspaper

Hi, Denis.

Okay, Dan?

Nice work on Carignon.

You sure screwed "Le Monde"! Look.

You fucked them good!

The editor wants to see you.

- What for? - Dunno, he didn't say.

- Wanted to see me? - Denis, have a seat.

No, I'm fine.

It's about your leading article.

I have a problem with it.

Not a matter of style, but of content.

I think you're wrong.

You can't blatantly say that France is corrupt.

I didn't.

You do, between the lines.

You can't insinuate without substance.

Other papers might let that go, we don't.

I talk about the Socialist Party intimidating Judge Van Ruymbeke

in the Emmanuelli affair,

about the amnesty law to hush up party financing scams.

And you tell me I lack substance?

Why do you paint such a grim picture?

France has progressed in anti-corruption.

Affairs have emerged.

While many others never will...

Listen, Denis. People are tired of these stories.

You've got two hours to straighten it out.

Don't see what I can cut.

No, it's a good article.

For once!

Where's my article? You pulled it?

- Editor's orders. - Right!

How are my girls!

My darling daddy!

Everything okay?

Yes!

Come see the hut we built with Mom.

- Over there! - Wow, it's pretty!

You made that?

Yeah, come and see.

You're home early.

You'd better get used to it.

Why?

I resigned from Libération.

Oh yeah?

They censored my article, once again.

I was sick and tired of it.

How will we manage?

I'll write my books.

Like you always said, write those books.

- Why home so early, Dad? - Because Dad resigned.

What does that mean?

It means...

we'll nap in the hut every day!

So...

Mr Ruymbeke, can you explain your work as an investigating magistrate?

When you uncover an affair, what's the key?

Finding the thread to unravel it all.

An account number, a suspicious transfer.

And then to ascertain where this money's coming from,

where it's going and who's behind it.

Lorient Naval Base

The watchword is stealth!

The incline of the hull...

the absence of hard edges...

and the streamlined topside...

give these frigates...

the radar signature...

of a fishing boat!

Chemical and nuclear threats are also dealt with,

enabling the ship

to self-isolate for 24 hours...

in a contaminated zone.

I imagine, in such investigations

your international rogatory requests are often hampered?

Of course.

Dirty money can cross borders with a click,

while we judges have to wait for a year or more

for the return of a rogatory request to trace this same transfer.

So imagine our powerlessness when such transfers

end in a cash withdrawal?

Why do you look so worried?

Is something bothering you?

Want to talk about it?

There's something I don't understand.

The contract price has almost doubled.

Why are they so happy?

Relax, you're new to this.

You don't have all the keys.

They know very well what they're doing.

I went over the entire dossier.

The frigates we will receive are over-equipped.

They no longer match the initial government specs.

It's as if their real goal...

was to...

deliberately let the price soar.

So why hasn't this changed in Europe?

Most European political parties use tax havens for their financing

and even for personal enrichment.

So it's not in their interest to help us bring down networks

that have helped them into power.

Hello.

It's me, Captain Kuo.

- Everything okay? - No.

I can't talk on the phone, but you were right.

We need to meet, right away.

This is serious.

Were you surprised by what you found?

Yes, very.

I was amazed by the scale of it.

You were previously unaware of it?

I'd never worked on corruption cases.

I came to it by chance.

I knew nothing.

Indeed,

I'd never have imagined such things.

As a citizen, I was shocked.

A first in European justice:

Seven judges,

including France's Van Ruymbeke, handling key political dossiers

have launched an appeal

in the light of the pressure

and the obstacles they face in their work.

They confided in journalist Denis Robert

in a book launched today entitled:

"Justice or Chaos".

Here's our special report

"The Call of the Incorruptible".

Six European anti-corruption judges speak out to the press,

denouncing a Europe of tax havens and money laundering.

Their appeal aims to raise European public awareness

of their current powerlessness

in their daily battle against corruption.

Luxembourg City

I read your books.

Excellent, congratulations!

Thank you.

Yet if I may,

you know nothing about the ways of international finance!

But rest assured, that's only normal.

No journalist or judge ever investigated what I'm about to tell you.

Today, international finance is electronic.

It's a giant casino from which money never emerges.

It just changes hands. You understand?

No!

Ever heard of clearing houses, Mr Robert?

No.

And of Clearstream?

- No, sorry. - Come.

After the war, the banks stopped dealing directly with each other.

They set up

a kind of cooperative to handle their exchanges.

Which is Clearstream, right?

I see you learn fast.

When I joined in the early '70s

it was the post-war boom,

the mushrooming of the financial markets.

Our mission was to secure

and speed up exchanges worldwide.

Saving time, was saving money.

All seemed to be working fine

until the day an Italian bank, Banco Commerciale

asked us to open "unpublished" accounts for its 300 subsidiaries.

And that was when the rot set in.

Once the system kicked into action

the number of unpublished accounts skyrocketed.

- What's all this? - My personal archives.

I kept in touch with former colleagues

and one who still worked there