The probe, commissioned by the culture ministry following the daylight heist, found that only one of two security cameras near the break-in site was operational on Sunday morning, October 19, News.Az reports, citing AFP.
Security control room agents lacked sufficient screens to monitor footage in real time, and poor coordination initially sent police to the wrong location, according to a report presented to the French Senate’s Culture Commission.
Laurent Lafon, head of the commission, said the findings “highlight an overall failure of the museum, as well as its supervisory authority, to address security issues.”
Investigators noted that the robbers left just 30 seconds before police and private security guards arrived. “Give or take 30 seconds, the Securitas guards or the police officers in a car could have prevented the thieves from escaping,” said Noel Corbin, head of the investigation.
Corbin added that modern CCTV systems, stronger glass on the doors cut with angle grinders, and better internal coordination could have prevented the loss of the jewels, valued at an estimated $102 million, which remain missing.
Previous studies over the past decade, including a 2019 audit by Van Cleef & Arpels, had highlighted major security vulnerabilities at the museum. Experts warned that the riverside balcony targeted by the thieves was a weak point, easily accessible with an extendable ladder — exactly as occurred during the heist.
Corbin confirmed that under-fire Louvre boss Laurence des Cars had not been aware of the audit which was ordered by her predecessor, Jean-Luc Martinez.
"The recommendations were not acted on and they would have enabled us to avoid this robbery," Corbin said, adding that there had been a lack of coordination between the two government-appointed administrators.
Police believe they have arrested all four intruders, who escaped on powerful motorbikes, having carried out the heist in the Apollo Gallery in around 10 minutes in total, according to the investigation.
The revelations on Wednesday are likely to pile more pressure des Cars, the first woman in the role who was appointed by President Emmanuel Macron in 2021.
Questions have swirled since the break-in over whether it was avoidable and why a national treasure that is the world's most-visited museum appeared to be so poorly protected.
France's lower house of parliament is carrying out its own inquiry, while des Cars and Martinez are set to be grilled by senators next week.
Last month, France's state auditor said security upgrades had been carried out at a "woefully inadequate pace" and the museum had prioritised "high-profile and attractive operations" instead of protecting itself.
Senior police officer Guy Tubiana, a security advisor at the culture ministry who took part in the investigation, told senators he was "stunned" by what he had discovered at the museum.
"There was a succession of malfunctions that led to catastrophe but I never would have thought the Louvre could have so many malfunctions," he said.
Staff at the Louvre at set to go on strike on Monday to demand management act against what they see as understaffing and overcrowding at the museum, which welcomed 8.7 million people last year.
At the weekend, the museum revealed that a water leak had damaged 300 to 400 journals, books and documents in the Egyptian department in late November.
