He managed the personal fortune of the prince, the princely family and that of the Sovereign House, first under the reign of Rainier III, then under that of Albert II. Claude Palmero, administrator of Monegasque Crown assets since 2001, was dismissed from his post on Tuesday, according to sources familiar with the matter. Information that the prince’s palace refused to comment on immediately.
A chartered accountant by training, this 67-year-old Monegasque had also carried out, at the request of the Prince, a certain number of strategic missions for the Monegasque State, such as the acquisition of a stake in Nice airport, the launch of the of public television TV Monaco, on September 1st, or even missions to buy back real estate land.
The “Files of the Rock”
His surprise departure comes as the Principality of Monaco has been shaken since the end of 2021 by anonymous denunciations orchestrated by a website called Les Dossiers du Rocher. According to the platform, there is collusion between several relatives of the Prince, including Laurent Anselmi, his chief of staff, Thierry Lacoste, his lawyer, Didier Linotte, president of the Supreme Court and Claude Palmero.
The accusations of this site are based on the hacking of the mailboxes of the interested parties, who have all filed a complaint and deny having set up any system for their benefit. An investigation has been opened by the French courts.
Against the background of the war on the construction market
The victims of the Dossiers du Rocher suspect the Pastor group, headed by Patrice Pastor, a powerful entrepreneur excluded from certain markets, of being behind this destabilization operation against a backdrop of war for the flourishing local real estate construction market. Patrice Pastor fiercely denies it.
At the beginning of 2022, the Prince had completely changed the composition of his cabinet by appointing Laurent Anselmi as its head, with the desire to establish more transparency and rigor in the awarding of contracts in the Principality.