The judges of the investigating chamber of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal (Bouches-du-Rhône) canceled, this Monday afternoon, the indictment for “criminal association” of Me Pascal Garbarini, 58, lawyer at the Paris bar. He had been indicted last June by the investigating judge, Anaïs Trubuilt, in post at the specialized interregional jurisdiction (Jirs) of Marseille. A judicial center that manages organized crime.

Me Pascal Garbarini had been indicted, but also placed under the status of assisted witness for “money laundering”, while he defended Jacques Santoni, presented as the godfather of the criminal gang known as the “Petit Bar” in Ajaccio (Southern Corsica). The council was being sued in connection with a financial investigation linked to the activities of the alleged members of this gang.

“I wouldn’t get dirty”

“It is a great satisfaction that justice has been done to me by the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal, welcomes Me Pascal Garbarini, whose defense is ensured by Mes Marie-Laure Barré, Patrick Maisonneuve and Francis Teitgen. The judges were not fooled. My indictment was quite fanciful and above all defamatory because it undermined my honor and my reputation as a lawyer. But I do not digest this indictment. No one wipes their feet on me. I wouldn’t get dirty. »

The same also believes that this indictment had “perhaps another design”. “That of exfiltrating me from the defense of Jacques Santoni, he advances. It is an unfair process and that the court has sanctioned. She also pronounced the nullity of the sound systems and listening with several of my clients in this file. Even if I have regained all my credit as a lawyer, for all that, I think that in the interest of Mr. Santoni, it is preferable that he chooses a new counsel. » Jacques Santoni, the alleged leader of the “Petit Bar”, was indicted in January 2021, in particular for extortion in an organized gang, aggravated money laundering and criminal association.

The Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal had already reversed, last July, the placement under judicial supervision of Me Pascal Garbarini in this same case, judging the evidence against him insufficient.