(Paris) Sentenced a month ago for the violence committed during the demonstrations of the 1er May 2018, Alexandre Benalla was taken into police custody on Tuesday on suspicion of having played a role in contracts with Russian oligarchs under investigation for corruption.
The former adviser of Emmanuel Macron, as well as his wife, are questioned by the Parisian police officers of the Brigade for the repression of economic delinquency (BRDE), in a preliminary investigation of the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), said two close sources. of the file, confirming information from the magazine Point and TF1.
Mr. Benalla “is heard about suspicions of money laundering, aggravated tax fraud, forgery and use of forgery, abuse of corporate assets, influence peddling and corruption”, told AFP a judicial source . Their custody can last 48 hours.
At least two contracts are in the sights of investigators.
The first is a security contract signed in June 2018 between Vincent Crase, former gendarme and ex-acolyte of Alexandre Benalla, and the Russian oligarch Iskander Makhmudov, via his company Mars.
Mr. Makhmudov, billionaire at the head of an industrial empire in Russia, and also holder of several properties in France, has been the subject of an investigation in Spain on suspicion of belonging to a powerful criminal organization. But the file was sent to Russia in 2011 and was the object of a classification without continuation, according to the public prosecutor of Madrid.
The investigation is interested in the role that Alexandre Benalla would have played in the signing of this contract with the sulphurous oligarch, while he was stationed at the Elysee, as deputy to the chief of staff of President Emmanuel Macron in charge of security issues.
The information site Mediapart revealed in December 2018 the existence of this contract, subcontracted to another security company, the Velours company, for which Mr. Benalla worked between October 2014 and November 2015.
Contract of 294,000 euros
According to the site, Mr. Makhmudov would have paid 294,000 euros for this contract, of which a little more than half – 172,200 euros – was transferred to Velours accounts.
Before the senatorial commission of inquiry into the violence committed on 1er May 2018, Mr. Benalla had assured that he had not taken part in the negotiation of this contract.
The former employee of the presidential party (LREM) Vincent Crase, also sentenced for the violence of the 1er May 2018, was briefly taken into custody in this case in December 2019.
From April 2019, Vincent Crase, former reservist officer of the gendarmerie, had ruled out any irregularity, during a daily interview in Rouen Paris Normandy.
It was “a completely clear contract, signed by lawyers, and not a false contract as I could read it sometimes”, had recounted Mr. Crase, assuring to have “never met” the Russian oligarch.
The contract “provided for ensuring the safety and support of this gentleman’s children, who were educated in Monaco, as well as the safety and support of Mr. Makhmudov when he came to France. Something he never did during the three months of this contract, ”he added.
Other contract of 353,000 euros
PNF and BRDE are also interested in a contract signed with another Russian oligarch, Farkhad Akhmedov.
During his trial in September for the violence of the 1er May, Mr. Benalla had declared to have settled in Morocco after his dismissal from the Élysée and to have founded a consultancy structure, speaking of a contract with this businessman and former senator for an amount of 353,000 euros, “Declared to the tax authorities”, he insisted.
Farkhad Akhmedov made his fortune especially in the energy sector. It was ranked in 2020 68e Russian fortune by Forbes magazine with an estimated heritage of $ 1.4 billion.
Alexandre Benalla remains the target of two other investigations into the disappearance of his safes and for suspicion of false testimony before the Senate.