Paris (AFP) - Paris prosecutors on Saturday opened an investigation into illegal use of diplomatic passports by President Emmanuel Macron's disgraced former bodyguard in another potential scandal for the French leader.
Alexandre
Benalla, a former campaign bodyguard who got a senior job after Macron's
election victory last year, has been caught up in scandal since July when
accusations emerged he had roughed up protestors.
Macron's
office and Benalla have clashed this week over accusations that he may have
used diplomatic passports after he was dismissed in August, which the foreign
ministry said would be a crime.
Prosecutors
have opened a preliminary investigation into "abuse of trust" over
Benalla's failure to return two passports after he was no longer in office,
state prosecutor in Paris Remy Heitz said in a statement.
The probe
is also investigating the illegal use of a professional documents and other
possible charges.
The
passports were seized by the foreign ministry after press reports emerged
alleging Benalla used them to enter several African countries and Israel in
recent weeks.
But sources
close to Benalla said he had handed over the passports to the presidential
palace, but that they were given back to him again.
More
negative headlines over Benalla have emerged at a sensitive time for Macron, a
former investment banker who has seen his popularity plummet during weeks of
anti-government protests over some of his economic reforms.
The French
leader, who has styled himself as a pro-business reformer, has been forced to
acknowledge widespread animosity to his way of governing, seen by critics as
out of touch with the economic plight of ordinary French.
Centre of scandal
Centre of scandal
Benalla was
at the centre of a major scandal this summer after accusations emerged he had
beaten up demonstrators at a May Day rally in Paris while he was wearing a
police helmet. He was working for the presidency at the time.
He was not
fired until after the media revelations, prompting a wave of accusations from
government opponents that Macron's office covered it up.
Uproar over
the diplomatic passports and how the presidency has handled the issue has been
growing since local media reported Benalla met with several African presidents,
in what officials fear was an attempt to profit from his former insider status.
The
president's office said it has no information about the use of Benalla's
passports, which it said were assigned only for work in his official capacity.
Macron's
chief of staff, Patrick Strzoda, called on Benalla to explain himself on
"any personal and private missions" carried out "as a
consultant" while he was in office at the Elysee, following the press
reports.
But Benalla
replied in a letter, seen by AFP, to the Elysee Palace, that he never carried
out any private missions during his time with the presidency.
Benalla has
denied boasting of insider influence to win work after his sacking and has
accused members of Macron's entourage of trying to "wreck" his life.
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