Louvre Museum, Paris (France)
French investigators have detained two high-ranking archaeologists and curators as part of an investigation into a global art-trafficking scandal involving the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Met, and former Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez. According to the French daily Liberation, Jean-François Charnier and Nomi Daucé are suspected of ignoring warnings about the questionable provenance of at least two allegedly stolen Egyptian antiquities worth millions and urging the Louvre Abu Dhabi to acquire them. The pair are accused of negligence while working at the private Agence France-Muséums (AFM), which was tasked with certifying the legality and provenance of ancient antiquities for the Louvre Abu Dhabi ahead of its 2017 opening.
The two experts collaborated with former Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez, who served as president of the AFM's scientific committee from 2013 to 2021 while also running the famed museum. Martinez was charged in France in May with "complicity of gang fraud and laundering" in the complicated trafficking case being investigated in collaboration with the Manhattan District Attorney's office. Martinez maintains his innocence, but the French government suspended his duties as a cultural heritage ambassador related to art trafficking in June.
Daucé, who is now a curator at the Louvre in Paris, previously led the AFM's archaeology department. According to Le Monde, Charnier, who was the scientific director of AFM and Martinez's "right-hand man," is now an advisor at another French cultural agency, Afalula, for the cultural development of Saudi Arabia's Al-Ula region. The OCBC, the French office against art trafficking, questioned Charnier and Daucé, but they have not yet been charged with any crime. According to Liberation, which broke the story, they could be held for up to 96 hours for questioning beginning Monday morning. The AFM was established in 2007 as an international consultancy firm to assist in the development of the Louvre Abu Dahbi. Despite being private, it has public-sector shareholders, the largest of which is the Louvre Museum. According to the company's website, "this particular configuration—a private organization with public backing—means that France Muséums is able to support all kinds of projects."
Louvre Museum, Abu Dhabi
According to an OCBC report reviewed by Liberation, the AFM (often referred to as France Muséums) has been in the spotlight for "real professional negligence" and "without a doubt, enabling criminal networks to sell the Egyptian antiquities" involved in the case. The AFM is believed to have approved the acquisition of over €50 million in allegedly stolen ancient artworks by the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which is also a civil party in the case, along with the Louvre in Paris. According to an AFM spokesperson, the organization has asked to be named as a civil party as well.
Investigators discovered that Charnier, Daucé, and Martinez appeared more concerned with pleasing their clients, filling empty museum halls, and maintaining good diplomatic relations with the UAE than with heeding the warnings of other experts, according to the OCBC report cited by Liberation. According to Liberation, Charnier may have dismissed concerns about at least one object: a rose granite stele commemorating King Tutankhamun, which was later discovered to be certified with multiple fake documents. The work was acquired for the museum after Charnier reportedly gave in to the wishes of Abu Dhabi's chairman of the department of culture and tourism, Mohamed Khalifa al Mubarak, who also serves on the acquisition commission of the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
When news of Charnier's possible involvement in the acquisition of the suspect antiquities broke earlier this spring, he left his former position as scientific director of Afalula to take a quieter position as an advisor to the agency's president and has been preparing for questioning by authorities, according to Le Monde. Authorities also discovered several "abnormal" deposits made to Charnier's bank account between 2016 and 2018 from a Belgian auction house run by brothers Ali and Hicham Aboutaam, whose Phoenix Ancient Art gallery in New York and Geneva has been subjected to police investigation in connection with illicit artifacts on numerous occasions. According to the French daily, the Aboutaam brothers also sold several works to the Louvre Abu Dhabi through Charnier.
Jean Dubreil