Via ArtNet News, August 1, 2022
A former executive of France Muséums, the agency that advised on acquisitions for the Louvre Abu Dhabi, was indicted and placed under court supervision last Thursday as part of a sprawling international investigation into the alleged trafficking of plundered Egyptian antiquities.
Curator and archaeologist Jean-François Charnier, who had been held for questioning last Monday, was charged with giving false provenance information about artworks that entered the collection of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, according to Le Figaro and Le Monde.
However, Noémi Daucé, a heritage curator who had also been held for questioning, was released last Wednesday without further legal proceedings at this stage.
Both Charnier and Daucé formerly worked for France Muséums—also known as Agence France-Muséums, a cultural consultancy that was hired to certify the legality and provenance of antiquities for the Louvre Abu Dhabi ahead of its inauguration in 2017.
