The former head of the Paris' Louvre museum Jean-Luc Martinez has been charged in connection with the alleged antiquities trafficking of Egyptian archaeological treasures purchased by the Louvre Abu Dhabi and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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Martinez ran the Louvre from 2013 to 2021. In 2016, the museum's Abu Dhabi branch bought a rare pink granite stele depicting Pharaoh Tutankhamun as well as four other Egyptian antiques for $8.5 million. French investigators suspect those artifacts were illegally taken out of the country during the Arab Spring uprisings and sold to museums with falsified certificates.
Art purchases made by the Louvre Abu Dhabi have to receive approval from a joint governmental commission chaired by the director of the Paris Louvre. Martinez is suspected of turning a blind eye to the fraudulent origin of the Egyptian art pieces. He was charged after being taken in for questioning on Wednesday.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
