French President Emmanuel Macron says it is unacceptable that a diplomat investigated for child pornography in the US remained in service.
BRUSSELS: President Emmanuel Macron has demanded answers over why a French diplomat investigated in the US for allegedly viewing child pornography remained in service.
Macron said it was “unacceptable” that Fabrice Aidan, whose name appears over 200 times in the Jeffrey Epstein files, continued his career.
“If it’s true that the administration had information several years ago, then something should have been done,” Macron told journalists in Belgium.
He said he had only recently become aware of the affair and had asked Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot to investigate.
According to reports, the FBI opened an investigation into Aidan in 2013.
His lawyer stated that Aidan denies “the entirety of the accusations made against him”.
The French justice system has now opened an administrative inquiry and a disciplinary procedure.
Aidan worked at the United Nations in New York between 2006 and 2013.
He later worked for the UN cultural agency UNESCO after his UN posting.
The first email exchanges between Aidan and convicted sex offender Epstein date back to 2010.
A mere mention in the Epstein files does not imply wrongdoing.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring a child for prostitution.
He killed himself in prison in 2019 while facing federal sex trafficking charges.
