Russian Tycoon's Contract Linked To Benalla Poses Risk To French President Office - Senate

A security contract concluded with Russian businessman Iskander Makhmudov and allegedly negotiated by Alexandre Benalla, French President Emmanuel Macron's former security adviser, represents a risk for the presidential administration and the entire country, Jean-Pierre Sueur, a co-rapporteur of a French Senate inquiry committee, said on Wednesday

PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th February, 2019) A security contract concluded with Russian businessman Iskander Makhmudov and allegedly negotiated by Alexandre Benalla, French President Emmanuel Macron's former security adviser, represents a risk for the presidential administration and the entire country, Jean-Pierre Sueur, a co-rapporteur of a French Senate inquiry committee, said on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, the inquiry committee presented a report concerning the so-called Benalla affair. It comes after the French investigative website Mediapart reported earlier in February that French prosecutors had opened a corruption investigation into a French firm's security contract signed with Makhmudov. The website alleged that Benalla helped negotiate the contract, while working as security aide at the Elysee.

"An assistant for the head of the cabinet is negotiating with a company, whose financial interests are directly linked to a foreign state, at the highest level of this foreign state ... [This] represents not only a lack of professional ethics but also a risk for the presidential administration and for our republic," Sueur said presenting the findings of the committee.

In December, Mediapart first revealed the details of the contract which it said was concluded with Makhmudov in June 2018. According to the media outlet, the contract involved a firm run by Vincent Crase, Benalla's friend and former ruling La Republique En Marche (LREM) party's security manager.

The Elysee fired Benalla after he was caught on camera hitting a protester during the May Day demonstrations in Paris. The embattled aide has since been charged with violence and interfering in the work of public services.