The lobbyist at the heart of a case that led ex-BFMTV journalist Rachid M’Barki to broadcast images outside the channel contacted another of his colleagues to try in vain to influence his work for compensation , revealed the boss of BFMTV on Thursday. The director general of BFMTV, Marc-Olivier Fogiel, was questioned by a parliamentary commission of inquiry into foreign interference, chaired by RN deputy Jean-Philippe Tanguy.
The commission asked him if the lobbyist Jean-Pierre Duthion, who provided certain images nourishing the suspicions of foreign interference broadcast by Rachid M’Barki, had been able to contact other journalists of the chain. “Mr. Duthion tried to contact other BFMTV journalists after the departure of Rachid M’Barki (…) to offer them other types of information, in quotation marks, which did not hold their interest”, revealed Marc-Olivier Fogiel.
Complaint against X
The journalists warned Marc-Olivier Fogiel, who passed on the information during an internal audit, he said. “One (of the journalists) was offered compensation at that time,” he added. “I’m not saying that Mr. M’Barki was paid, I have no information, or even if it was offered to him, I don’t know,” said the manager.
Marc-Olivier Fogiel also repeated that the dismissal in February for serious misconduct of Rachid M’Barki was linked to the fact that he had “seriously failed in the validation process” of information within the channel. Marc-Olivier Fogiel Fogiel said he had no information on a supposed foreign influence, referring for this aspect of the case to the judicial inquiry. A complaint against X for passive corruption and breach of trust has been filed.
“Team Jorge”
The day before, Rachid M’Barki had assured the same commission that he would be the target of “unfair accusations”, for his first public speech since his questioning. He was implicated in an international investigation by the collective of journalists Forbidden Stories, to which the investigation unit of Radio France contributed for France and The world.
In question, suspicions of foreign interference in his work as a presenter of the night newspapers on BFMTV. This concerned a dozen briefs illustrated with images, relating in particular to Russian oligarchs, Qatar or Western Sahara. Published in mid-February, this investigation pointed more broadly to the activities of an Israeli company, nicknamed “Team Jorge”, specializing in disinformation for the benefit of various clients, including states. The name of Jean-Pierre Duthion was mentioned in this investigation.