Real estate war in Monaco: the supreme court rejects a request for recusal

Via his company Esperanza, Mr. Pastor had filed a motion for recusal at the end of November against Didier Linotte, president of the Supreme Court of Monaco, questioning his "impartiality" in the handling of a dispute relating to a major real estate project, "the 'fisherman's esplanade'.

The financial stakes are considerable, the price per m2 in Monaco being among the highest in the world. And on this strip of land of 2km2 already ultra urbanized, which extends along the sea, each free surface is fiercely disputed.

This is the case for the "fisherman's esplanade", with an area of ​​approximately 13.000 m2, the stake of a fierce battle between the Caroli group, which intends to build a real estate and cultural complex there, and that of Mr. Pastor.

To reject this request for recusal, the Supreme Court ruled that the elements presented by Esperanza "concerning the relations maintained by Mr. Linotte with Monegasque authorities, lawyers and companies, are not such as to create a legitimate doubt on his impartiality in the procedure".

This request was based on documents (videos, confidential email exchanges, etc.) in connection with real estate projects disseminated in the fall of 2021 by a website entitled "les dossiers du Rocher".

These documents targeted four relatives of Prince Albert II, baptized "the G4" by the site: in addition to Didier Linotte, they are Thierry Lacoste, his lawyer and childhood friend, Claude Palmero, chartered accountant and administrator of his assets, and Laurent Anselmi, his chief of staff.

In this "Dossiers du Rocher" affair, the four respondents have filed a complaint, as well as Patrice Pastor, accused of being the sponsor of this site. At the end of October, two men, suspected of having taken part in this campaign, were indicted in Paris.

To argue his request which relates to a dispute concerning "the esplanade of the fishermen", Patrice Pastor evoked documents published by the "Dossiers du Rocher" mentioning links between the Caroli group and the members of the G4.

Consequently, the wealthy businessman considered that "the calm and impartial examination" of his appeal against a downgrading of the site was "objectively impossible" on the part of Mr. Linotte.

The Supreme Court of Monaco, which has jurisdiction in constitutional and administrative matters, is composed of five members and two alternates.