France Pledges Investigation into Diplomat’s Alleged Epstein Ties

(MENAFN) France's top diplomat has pledged to pursue an internal investigation into a French official's alleged connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein without compromise, signaling the inquiry will be taken to its full conclusion regardless of where it leads.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot confirmed Sunday that the probe — launched within the Foreign Ministry — remains active and is designed to bolster the work of judicial authorities. Disciplinary proceedings against the diplomat have already been set in motion, he added.

"The investigation is ongoing," Barrot said in a joint interview with France Inter, Franceinfo, and Le Monde, cautioning that it remained "a little early" to determine how accountability might ultimately be assigned.

He made clear, however, that the ministry would "obviously ensure that responsibilities can be established."

Barrot said he escalated the matter to prosecutors under Article 40 of France's Code of Criminal Procedure after learning on Feb. 10 of revelations implicating the official. He described his reaction to the allegations in stark terms, saying he was "appalled" and "outraged."

The documents at the center of the controversy trace back to 2010, when French diplomat Fabrice Aidan was on secondment from France and serving at the UN. He was also connected to Norwegian diplomat Terje Rod-Larsen, who — alongside his wife Mona Juul — is currently under investigation in Norway over alleged corruption tied to Epstein.

Barrot declined to confirm what information, if any, Aidan may have passed to Epstein. He also disclosed a deeply troubling prior chapter: the diplomat had previously been the subject of a U.S. investigation for accessing child pornography — a matter the French Foreign Ministry had never formally questioned him about at the time.

The broader Epstein document release stems from a sweeping disclosure ordered by the U.S. Justice Department on Jan. 30, which made public more than 3 million pages of records, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law last November. The cache includes grand jury transcripts and investigative files, though extensive redactions continue to obscure large portions of the material.

Survivors and relatives of Epstein's victims have sharply criticized the release, arguing it falls well short of what the law mandates and withholds critical information owed to the public.

Epstein was found dead by suicide in a New York City jail in 2019 while awaiting federal trial on sex trafficking charges involving underage girls.

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