Two former police officers and a Franco-Algerian lobbyist were indicted Thursday in Paris in an investigation into possible influence peddling which would have notably benefited PSG, said a judicial source.
The trio, suspected of having played on their relationships to transmit sensitive and confidential information to institutions - including the Parisian football club - had been placed in police custody on Monday as part of an investigation opened in July 2021. Presented Thursday to a judge, they were indicted as part of a judicial investigation opened the same day by the Paris prosecutor's office for numerous offenses including "
forgery and use of forgery, corruption, influence peddling, violation of the professional secrecy or compromise of national defense secrecy
”.
Read alsoFoot: the disturbing revelations of
Liberation
on Nasser al-Khelaïfi, president of PSG
None have been charged for the latter offence.
All three were placed under judicial supervision, according to the judicial source.
According to a source familiar with the matter, the two former police officers are prohibited from exercising the function of police officer or private security activities.
Another close source explained that at this stage of the investigation, file transmissions are "
proven
" but the respondents are more like "
upstarters who were trying to shine
" than a "
structured network
" .
A source at PSG assured AFP that for the moment the club was not implicated and that it was making itself available to justice for any further information.
One of the members of the trio is already known to the justice system: Malik N., a former police officer working in the intelligence services (at the DCRI, now DGSI), hired in 2018 as referent-supporters at Paris Saint-Germain.
He left the club recently, but for personal reasons, unrelated to this investigation according to the same source at PSG.
His lawyers did not immediately comment.
Malik N. was indicted at the beginning of the summer for breaches of National Defense secrecy in another investigation, that of journalist Alex Jordanov, author of a book revealing certain methods of recruitment and management of sources within the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI).
It is within the framework of this investigation that the police would have discovered other possible offenses having led them to the two other men presented Thursday to justice.
The second defendant is a police officer on standby, a former colleague of Malik N. at the DCRI and who was posted to the Directorate of International Security Cooperation (DCIS) in charge of the Middle East at the time of the facts with which he is accused. , according to another source familiar with the matter.
He would be accused in particular of intervening to obtain a residence permit for the benefit of an Iraqi investor from the Middle East, charges which he disputes.
Finally, the lobbyist is Tayeb B., quoted Thursday in a river investigation by Liberation as the central figure in a case linked to Qatar.
According to the daily, this man would have held compromising information for the emirate and for Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, president of PSG, and would have been detained for months in Qatar in 2020 in inhuman conditions,
Lawyers Francis Szpiner and Renaud Semerdjian said "
categorically and strictly
" in a press release that the judicial investigation opened today had "
nothing to do with Nasser Al-Khelaïfi
" whom they are defending.
Tayeb B. asked in two complaints filed in August in Paris for the appointment of an investigating judge, said a source familiar with the matter, confirming information from Liberation.
His attorney did not immediately comment.