Paris (AFP)
Alexandre Benalla, ex-representative at the Elysee Palace, was once again indicted on February 11 in the investigation of his diplomatic passports, this time for "forgery" and "use of forgery", learned AFP Friday from a judicial source, confirming information from Mediapart.
In this case, Mr. Benalla had already been indicted since January 2019 for "public use and without the right of a supporting document of professional quality".
At that time, he was also placed under the status of assisted witness, intermediary between the simple witness and the indictment, for "breach of trust", "forgery and use of false administrative document" and "improper obtaining of an administrative document" . Her lawyer said she was "very, very happy" with the outcome of this appearance.
On February 11, the investigating judge in charge of the case therefore decided to also indict him for "forgery and use of false administrative documents".
This investigation aims to clarify the conditions under which the former official in charge of the Elysee Palace continued to use diplomatic passports after his indictment in July 2018 for violence during May 1 and his dismissal.
Three close collaborators of Emmanuel Macron, including the secretary general of the Elysee Palace Alexis Kohler and his then chief of staff, François-Xavier Lauch, were heard in April 2019 by the judges responsible for this investigation.
Mr. Lauch, now deputy chief of staff of the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin, was then summoned as a civil party after having lodged a complaint against Alexandre Benalla, of whom he was at the time the superior, for a "use of false "aimed at obtaining one of these service passports.
After initially affirming before the Senate to have left them in his office at the Elysee Palace, Mr. Benalla had admitted having recovered and used these passports, then had returned them. According to Mediapart and Le Monde, Mr. Benalla used one of his two diplomatic passports to enter several African countries.
Contacted by AFP, his lawyer Me Jacqueline Laffont did not follow up.
Several legal proceedings were opened in the sprawling Benalla case, mainly at the Paris prosecutor's office but also at the national financial prosecutor's office (PNF).
In addition to the passport file, Alexandre Benalla was also indicted for the violence committed on the sidelines of the May 1, 2018 parade and for the selfie taken with a weapon during the 2017 presidential campaign.
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