the roles of Nicolas Sarkozy, Ramzi Khiroun and Nasser Al-Khelaïfi in query | EUROtoday

Did Arnaud Lagardère corrupt Qatar, its largest shareholder when he was nonetheless the highly effective boss of the group of the identical identify, proprietor of influential media (Paris Match, Europe 1…), and the primary French writer Hachette? The query hovers over a delicate authorized matter which resulted within the businessman and CEO of his group (quickly banned from managing by the courts), owned by Vivendi, having been indicted on April 29 by the investigating judges Virginie Tilmont and Marie-Catherine Idiart for “vote buying”, “abuse of corporate assets and abuse of powers” ​​and “dissemination of information giving false or misleading indications to act on the price of a financial instrument , market manipulation”.

He is suspected of getting obtained, within the spring of 2018, the vote of Qatar Holding LLC, a subsidiary of the sovereign fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) after which fundamental shareholder (13% of the capital and with 19.5% of voting rights) to his group, in favor of administration resolutions (due to this fact his personal), in return for a promise made to the Qataris: appoint Jamal Benomar, a British-Moroccan diplomat near Doha, to the supervisory board of Lagardère SCA to symbolize the pursuits of the emirate.

The son of Jean-Luc Lagardère is implicated for different alleged details. First, for having interfered within the election of the supervisory board, speculated to be a counter-power to administration, by collaborating in direct negotiations with Qatari officers. That ” the law [lui] forbidden “, recalled the investigating magistrates. Then, for having publicly introduced Mr. Benomar to the shareholders as a supposedly member ” independent ” of the supervisory board throughout its co-optation, in September 2018, then in 2019 throughout a common assembly, on the danger of getting harmed shareholders. Which, once more, is punishable by prison sanctions.

Illustrious intermediaries

Court paperwork, together with The world has develop into conscious, reveal that Mr. Lagardère will not be the one one to have performed a job, behind the scenes, through the negotiations with the Qataris. Illustrious intermediaries might thus discover themselves within the sights of magistrates for having assisted the businessman.

Among these zealous auxiliaries, we discover the previous President of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy, pal of Mr. Lagardère and near Qatar; the previous spokesperson, director of exterior relations and member of the chief committee of Lagardère, Ramzi Khiroun; the Qatari boss of Paris-Saint-Germain and administrator of QIA, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi; and Pierre Leroy, right-hand man and historic common supervisor of Arnaud Lagardère and indicted, on April 10, on this part for “complicity in vote buying, abuse of corporate assets and abuse of powers”.

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