When Prince Albert II ascended Monaco's throne in 2005, he knew he needed to clean out the stable.
That is why he hired Jean-Luc Allavena to be his Chief of Staff, and why he retained me, in 2002, to be his intelligence chief.
But spineless Albert only feigned interest in bringing a "new ethic" (as he prevaricated) to the principality.
The stable did not get swept.
Allavena was first to go, in late 2006; I followed a year later.
A decade on, the corruption in Monaco was so rampant that all the accumulated horse-manure erupted, like a volcano, into the media.
A prosecutor, French Judge Edouard Levrault, was appointed to sift through the filth.
Levrault's investigations led to the dismissal of the very corrupt Justice Minister Philippe Narmino, and to the prosecutions of Narmino and former Interior Minister Paul Masseron, along with Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev, who had been lining the pockets of both public officials.
And what happens in the midst of these ongoing investigations and prosecutions?
Albert terminates Levrault.
It seems as though Albert is hell-bent on drowning his principality in horse-manure.
AFP: Judge Levrault will be removed from Rybolovlev’s case in Monaco
Clubhouse on Wheels: CORRUPTION IN MONACO
Clubhouse on Wheels: CORRUPTION IN MONACO
