Overview
- The Cour de cassation annulled the Paris Court of Appeal’s November 2024 decision and remanded the prescription issue to the chambre de l’instruction.
- The court said Kohler’s silence, even toward some leaders of entities where he sat, does not by itself amount to a concealment maneuver, and it found no established concerted plan to hide the alleged offense.
- Alexis Kohler remains under formal investigation for illegal conflict of interest over decisions touching MSC during his service at the APE (2009–2012) and at Bercy (2012–2016).
- The inquiry, opened in June 2020 after complaints by the anti‑corruption group Anticor, pits arguments that the facts were occult until 2018 against the prosecution’s long‑held view favoring broad prescription.
- The remand leaves the scope of prosecutable acts unresolved and the underlying criminal investigation ongoing, with no determination on guilt.