Paris (AFP)

Vincent Crase, ex-employee of LREM and close to Alexandre Benalla, was placed in police custody Tuesday in the investigation for "corruption" opened for a security contract signed between his company and a Russian oligarch, he said. we learned from consistent sources.

The former member of Emmanuel Macron's campaign team is questioned in Rouen by investigators from the economic crime repression brigade (BRDE) as part of an investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) on the activities Iskander Makhmudov, said one of these sources, confirming information from Paris Normandy.

According to Mediapart, this contract would have been "negotiated" by the former adviser of Emmanuel Macron Alexandre Benalla, "from the time when he was at the Elysee".

Iskander Makhmoudov, billionaire at the head of an industrial empire in Russia, is presented by the Spanish justice as being part of a powerful criminal organization.

During an interview with Paris Normandy in April 2019, Vincent Crase, former reservist officer of the gendarmerie in Eure, had dismissed any irregularity in the contract between his ex-security company, baptized Mars, and Mr. Makhmoudov .

It was "a very clear contract, signed by lawyers, and not a fake contract as I have read it sometimes," he said.

"He planned to provide security and support for this gentleman's children, schooled in Monaco, as well as security and support for Mr. Makhmoudov (...) when he came to France. never did during the three months of this contract, "he added.

The former LREM employee also assured that he had "never met" the Russian oligarch, adding that Alexandre Benalla had not seen him either. "

Joined Tuesday by AFP, Vincent Crase's lawyer, Me Christian Saint-Palais, did not wish to speak.

Mediapart had revealed the existence of this contract a year ago, claiming that Mr. Makhmoudov had paid Vincent Crase 294,000 euros in June 2018. The contract, which "provided for the protection of the real estate in France of the businessman, and his family in Monaco ", according to Mediapart, had been subcontracted to the company Velours, former employer of Mr. Benalla.

At a hearing before the Senate commission of inquiry decided after the revelations of Le Monde on the violence committed on May 1, MM. Benalla and Crase assured in January that the first had not taken part in the negotiation of this contract, concluded while he was still working at the Elysée.

© 2019 AFP