He is suspected of acting as an intermediary in a contract between Russian oligarch Iskander Makhmudov and a friend
Alexandre Benalla, the former bodyguard of French President Emmanuel Macron, was arrested yesterday in Paris on suspicions of corruption in the signing of a contract to guarantee the safety of the Russian oligarch Iskander Makhmudov and his family in the so-called “case of Russian contracts.” Makhmudov is considered a tycoon close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Benalla, 30, was arrested, along with his wife, and interrogated by the Brigade for the Suppression of Economic Crime (BRDE). He is suspected of acting as an intermediary in a contract between the Russian oligarch and his friend Vincent Crase, ex-gende and former security employee of La Republica en Marcha, Macron’s party. Investigators are trying to find out if Benalla abused her position at the Elysee Palace to secure a succulent private security contract.
Macron’s former security officer was sentenced last November by a Paris court to three years in prison, two exempt from compliance and one in firm prison, for beating protesters in 2018 during the protests on May 1, International Day of the Dead. Workers, and for fraudulently using diplomatic passports.
The broadcast of the video of Benalla hitting the protesters caused the first major political crisis that Macron experienced after winning the elections in May 2017. Benalla stopped working at the Elysee in August 2018.
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