WILLIAM SOUVANT / AFP
Mathias Pogba (left) is suspected of trying to extort his brother, France footballer Paul Pogba (right).
JUSTICE – Paul Pogba’s older brother, Mathias Pogba, was indicted and imprisoned this Saturday, September 17 after being presented to an investigating judge, as part of the investigation into the extortion denounced by the star of the Blues, learned AFP from a source close to the investigation.
Mathias Pogba, 32, who had gone himself to the investigating service Wednesdaym was indicted for extortion in an organized gang and participation in a criminal association, said a judicial source. According to a source close to the investigation, he was placed under the more favorable status of assisted witness for the facts of kidnapping on the night of March 19 to 20. He was remanded in custody.
Four other suspects, relatives of the Pogba brothers aged 27 to 36, have been indicted in particular for extortion with a weapon, kidnapping in an organized gang and criminal conspiracy. Three of them were remanded in custody. The fourth requested a delay and was temporarily imprisoned pending the debate before the JLD, added the judicial source.
An incredible affair
During their custody at the Central Office for the Fight against Organized Crime (Oclco), the suspects said they were “victims of individuals whose names they refuse to give”, explained to AFP a source close to the investigation. But, “they contradict each other and lie”said this source.
“It is a decision that we do not understand, especially since the courts have recognized that Mr. Pogba did not participate in the acts of kidnapping of which his brother was allegedly the victim”reacted the lawyer of Mathias Pogba, Me Yassine Bouzrou, at the microphone of BFMTV. “We will of course challenge this decision from a legal point of view so that Mr. Pogba can be released as soon as possible”he added.
Pogba case: his brother, Mathias, is indicted and imprisoned https://t.co/AVDozHgp3B
— BFMTV (@BFMTV)
This incredible affairwhich is shaking the Blues and more broadly the world of football two months before the World Cup in Qatar, started with a complaint filed on July 16 with the prosecutor’s office in Turin, Italy, by the 2018 world champion. Juventus denounced in this complaint extortion attempts between March and July 2022 amounting to 13 million euros.
Judicial information was opened in Paris on September 2 for, in particular, extortion with a weapon, kidnapping or sequestration in an organized gang and participation in a criminal association.
The role of Mathias Pogba is not yet “completely clear”according to the close source. “The investigation is far from over”, she pointed out. In a statement released last week, Mathias Pogba claimed to be “completely foreign to any extortion maneuver” targeting his brother.
However, he admitted being at the initiative of the video threatening Paul Pogba aired August 27. He promised “revelations” on his younger brother.
According The Parisian, Mathias Pogba is also suspected of having pressured his brother’s agent, lawyer Rafaela Pimenta. He would have sent her threatening messages, in particular for her to obtain from Paul Pogba that he pay the sum claimed by his blackmailers. The officer’s complaint for “organized gang extortion” was attached to the ongoing proceedings, confirmed the judicial source.
The tone has changed between Paul Pogba and his brother
Player of lower divisions, passed by thirteen clubs in thirteen years, Mathias Pogba has long been a protective big brother with Paul, world football star, before involving the whole family in this troubled affair.
Less gifted than his younger brother, world champion in 2018, Mathias Pogba never really saw his career take off, to the point of being qualified as a“casting error” by Jean-Paul Simon, the president of Belfort in National 2 (4th division), the last club to have hired him.
If he remains a modest footballer, with all the same five selections for the Guinea team, Mathias had more success as a TV columnist, the other facet of his football career. In the show The evening team on the L’Équipe channel, but also in the program “El Chiringuito” in Spain.
Paul had himself been interviewed on the show in July 2021, while Mathias was still participating in this talk show. He was assured that he was listening ” a lot “ his older brother. Mathias, detailed Paul, “is direct, straight, he says things to your face, he makes me grow and when I do something wrong, he will tell me”.
The tone changed a lot with the case: Mathias went so far as to tweet about his little brother “that there is no more coward, more traitor and more hypocritical (…) on this earth. »
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