After two months of investigation, the investigating magistrates took the decision to indict Rachid M’Barki for breach of trust and passive private corruption on December 8, AFP learned on Tuesday. The former BFMTV journalist is at the heart of a judicial investigation into suspicions of foreign interference.
Rachid M’Barki had published in his nightly newspapers a dozen briefs considered contentious by the courts. He was dismissed in February 2022 for serious misconduct by Altice, the group to which this channel which filed the complaint belongs. An internal investigation was also opened.
When asked, the lawyer of the person who had deplored a “media lynching” was not able to respond immediately on Tuesday. The BFMTV channel also did not wish to comment. While deploring a “media lynching”, the journalist admitted to having broadcast images provided by his informant Jean-Pierre Duthion on the air. But he assured that he had “at no time the impression (…) that he could work for someone who was trying to manipulate information. »
Lobbyists for Qatar
Since October, investigating magistrates have been investigating these possible foreign interferences and their possible counterparts, in a judicial investigation opened for various offenses including breach of trust, corruption and influence peddling of public officials or even laundering of aggravated tax fraud.
Lobbyist Jean-Pierre Duthion and Qatar specialist Nabil Ennasri were both indicted in October. The first had been placed under judicial supervision. The second, mainly accused of breach of trust, corruption and influence peddling by a public official, laundering of aggravated tax fraud, was placed in pre-trial detention.
Nabil Ennasri, author of several works on Qatar, is suspected of having acted as an agent of influence for the benefit of the Qatari monarchy, particularly at the time of the Football World Cup, according to the newspaper Le Parisien which had mentioned payments money from Nabil Ennasri to Jean-Pierre Duthion. Investigators “suspect a link” between the two, a source close to the investigation told AFP.