Facts
On December 13, 1994, the investigating judge at the Tribunal de grande instance de Grasse sent a request for judicial assistance to the Federal Office of Police for the purposes of the criminal investigation opened in France for the theft of a painting. On June 13, 1996, the investigating judge in Geneva ordered the return of the painting to the French authorities. On November 1, 1996, the Indictment Chamber of the Canton of Geneva dismissed the appeal filed by L. against this decision.
L. then appealed to the Federal Tribunal by way of an administrative law appeal, primarily requesting the annulment of the order of November 1, 1996 and the declaration that the request for assistance was "null and void". Subsidiarily, he requested that the disputed painting not be handed over to the requesting State or that a guarantee be provided.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal dismissed the appeal. It considered that only Article 74a of the Federal Act on International Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (IMAC) was applicable, in connection with Article 13 of the European Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime (Convention No. 141).
According to the Tribunal, the appellant did not make it plausible, within the meaning of Article 74a(4)(c) IMAC, that he had acquired the painting in good faith. The Tribunal considered that the appellant had not taken the basic precautions before the transaction, in particular by…