Eva Joly (born in Oslo on 5 December 1943) is a Norwegian-French examining magistrate known for her anti-corruption efforts. She moved to Paris at the age of 18 to work as an au pair, and today holds both Norwegian and French citizenship.
Ms Joly studied law at the University of Paris-Assas, specialising in public law and political science. In the course of her career, she has headed the legal department of a psychiatric hospital in France, worked as a public prosecutor in Orléans and Evry, and been Deputy Secretary General of the French Ministry of Economics, Finance and Industry’s department for industrial restructuring. Since September 2005, she has worked as a special adviser to the Norwegian Minister of International Development, heading Norad’s campaign against corruption and money laundering.
As an examining magistrate specialising in economic crime, Eva Joly headed the biggest corruption case of the 1990s – the scandal involving France’s largest oil company, Elf Aquitaine. Legal proceedings were started in the Elf case in 2003, following nine years of investigations. Thirty-seven people were tried, and 30 were convicted. Many of those convicted were sentenced to the severest penalties permitted by law. Those who had to account for their actions in court due to Ms Joly’s efforts included the former Foreign Minister of France, Roland Dumas, who faced embezzlement charges.
Eva Joly has published several books, including Notre affaire á tous in 2000 (published in English under the title Justice under Siege in 2006) and her autobiography Korrupsjonsjeger (Corruption hunter) in 2001. In her book Plan for en bedre verden (Plan for a better world), published in 2004, Ms Joly described her views on development assistance, globalisation and the fight against poverty. The book also includes contributions from Norway’s current Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, and Bishop Rosemarie Köhn, and describes the fight against corruption in both rich and poor countries.
Eva Joly holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Bergen, and is the recipient of many other awards and prizes. For example, she was named European of the year by Reader’s Digest in 2002, received the Equal Opportunity Award of the Norwegian Confederation of Vocational Unions in 2003, and was awarded the Norwegian Humanist Association’s humanist prize in 2004.