ISTANBUL

France’s foreign minister has said an internal investigation into alleged links between a French diplomat and late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be pursued “all the way."

Jean-Noel Barrot said Sunday that the inquiry launched within the Foreign Ministry is ongoing and intended to support judicial authorities, adding that disciplinary proceedings have already been initiated against the diplomat.

“The investigation is ongoing,” Barrot said in a joint interview with France Inter, Franceinfo, and Le Monde, noting that it was still “a little early” to determine how responsibility might be established.

He stressed that the ministry would “obviously ensure that responsibilities can be established.”

Barrot said he referred the case to prosecutors under Article 40 of France’s Code of Criminal Procedure after learning on Feb. 10 of revelations implicating the diplomat.

He also said he was “appalled” and “outraged” by the allegations.

The initial exchanges cited in the documents date back to 2010, when French diplomat Fabrice Aidan was working at the UN on secondment from France.

He was also associated with Norwegian diplomat Terje Rod-Larsen, who, along with his wife Mona Juul, is under investigation in Norway over alleged corruption linked to Epstein.

Barrot said he could not confirm what information Aidan may have shared with Epstein. He also revealed that the diplomat had previously been the subject of a US investigation for viewing child pornography, a matter the French Foreign Ministry had not questioned him about at the time.

On Jan. 30, the US Justice Department released more than 3 million pages of documents, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law last November.

Those materials include grand jury transcripts and investigative records, though many pages remain heavily redacted. Epstein survivors and victims’ relatives say the disclosure falls short of what the law requires and omits vital information.

Authorities found Epstein dead by suicide in a New York City jail in 2019 while he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving underage girls.