"I decided to express myself quite freely," says Alexandre Benalla in a river interview with Nouvel Economiste , published on Monday. The former collaborator of Emmanuel Macron, targeted by several investigations, accuses of "manipulation" the site of investigation Mediapart, which had published sound clips of one of his conversations.
"I wanted to become an entrepreneur"
"There is a politico-media time that has not escaped anyone, and in which I was more or less actor to the rhythm of articles and sessions of parliamentary inquiry," says Alexandre Benalla. "There will be a judicial time, with the moment of the judicial information, and there is economic time. (...) I had the will to become an entrepreneur conciliating my three passions for the adventure, the security and economic intelligence, and finally Africa, but today the judiciary does not put the gun on my head, "he says.
Alexandre Benalla evokes his new consulting and security company in Africa but also a "political instrumentalisation and media manipulation by Mediapart and Edwy Plenel (founder of the site, ed ) who are somehow the 'Breitbart and Steve Bannon '(an American far-right site and former strategist Donald Trump, editor's note ) of a certain French left ".
"When you go out of Benalla, you have nothing else to sell"
On January 31, Mediapart published sound clips of a conversation between Alexandre Benalla and the employee of La République en marche Vincent Crase dating from July 26, 2018, four days after their indictment in the May 1 violence case. 2018 and in violation of their judicial review. This revelation will include the two men being remanded in custody on February 19, before being released a week later on appeal.
"Apart from the manipulations of Mediapart, the media did their job by informing people of what they perceived as being strange, bizarre, wobbly, even borderline and illegal, it is the freedom of the press", Judge Alexandre Benalla, denouncing all "pseudo-investigations". Evoking a "brand Benalla", the former bodyguard Emmanuel Macron believes that "benefits primarily to the media." "When we go out of Benalla, we have nothing else to sell," he says.
Regarding his current activities, Alexandre Benalla claims to have implanted his security company in Nigeria and Morocco and said to aim for a turnover of 3 million euros in 2019. About his African networks and his links with men of Benalla replies: "For me, Françafrique is not a big word".