Suspected treason, senior Senate official Benoît Quennedey claims "his innocence"

Suspected spies on behalf of North Korea, top Senate official Benoît Quennedey claims "innocence"

Benoît Quennedey, the top senate official suspected of spying for North Korea, claims his "innocence" and is "scandalized" by the "hype" around him, said his lawyer Friday. "Mr. Quennedey claims his innocence. He says he has nothing to reproach himself for, " said Florian Lastelle.

Arrested Sunday night, the senior official was indicted Thursday for "treason" after four days in custody at the premises of the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI). He was released under judicial supervision, including the prohibition to leave the territory and practice his profession. The Senate presidency suspended him from office.

"Mr. Quennedey is extremely moved and scandalized by the media treatment he has received in recent days as he discovers the damage that has been done to his honor and reputation," said Lastelle, insisting on "procedures" to protest possible violations of the secrecy of the investigation.

"He did active lobbying"

According to Senator LREM André Gattolin, Mr. Quennedey, author of several books on the Korean peninsula, was "actively lobbying" parliamentarians. "I do not accuse this person of espionage in any way, the investigation will say it," declared Mr. Gattolin on Friday. "But he did active lobbying ," he said. "He did it in the course of his duties, by exploiting the means of his office [...] and with parliamentarians" . "This person regularly invited people to the Senate restaurant..." He mediated with senators whom he knew in the course of his duties. Inside the Senate, in his schedules, "he says. "I realized in the long run that he was known as the white wolf. Nobody suspected him of espionage, but everyone said 'he is pro-North Korean, etc.' "

The Senator from the Hauts-de-Seine describes Mr. Quennedey, one of the directors of the Department of Architecture, Heritage and Gardens as "a boy smiling, kind, affable, courteous, respectful" . "But systematically, as soon as he crossed you, he jumped on you . " According to Mr Gattolin, "he has been in committees on the merits, in the finance committee, and saying that there are no confidential documents is something totally wrong" .

André Gattolin expects the Senate, with a majority on the right, to shed light on what may have happened internally. "We made a commission on the internal malfunctions of the Elysée. What we want for others, we must apply it to ourselves .

More generally, Senator LREM deplores "a problem of control" of directors. "It is not because one is a civil servant, and a very senior official, that one is not indebted for transparency on one's conflicts of interest" .