Ethics judge steals to fund brothel romp

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

PARIS — A top French judge is to be suspended after he allegedly stole a German colleague's credit card to pay for a prostitute, having earlier delivered an hour-long speech on ethics, reported The Times.

The French Justice Ministry will suspend Mr Pierre Hontang, the state prosecutor in Bayonne, southwest of the country, after the alleged improper conduct during a conference of European General Prosecutors in Germany.

On Monday, a Justice Ministry official said the 47-year-old Hontang, one of France's most eminent jurists, had gone to "a place of pleasure where ladies hire out their services for between 100 euros ($220) and 300 euros, depending on what they are offering".

According to a report by French and German investigators, Mr Hontang had slipped out at least twice during the four-day conference.

The first time he had paid for the alleged sexual service with his own money, according to the report. The second time, he had allegedly paid with a credit card that he had nicked from a German prosecutor at the conference.

"He is being investigated for stealing the means to pay for activities that are a little shameful for a magistrate of this standing," a detective was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Another magistrate has launched a criminal inquiry into the allegations.

Mr Hontang's alleged shenanigans came to light after he had complained to the owner of the brothel's service. The boss had noticed that he had not paid with his own credit card and alerted German police officers, who got on the case.

Ironically, Mr Hontang attended the May conference as a keynote speaker in a debate on Fundamental Principles of Ethics for Prosecutors. He is reputed to be an expert on the subject.

He had spoken for more than an hour on the subject with eminent colleagues such as the Chief Prosecutor of the Spanish Supreme Court, Mr Antonio Vercher Noguera, sitting alongside him.

"Can you believe it?" a jurist who attended the conference asked Le Parisien newspaper. "He had been speaking on ethics for an hour."

At a previous conference, Mr Hontang famously said: "The main principles of the code (of ethics) will not only concern professional behaviour, because behaviour in private life has an impact on the image of the prosecution service and on the capacity of some of its members to remain part of it."

Source: TODAYonline