Ramzi Khiroun has been very discreet since his departure from the Lagardère group in 2022, with 17 million euros in end-of-contract compensation in his pocket. Since then, he has been seen within Emmanuel Macron's delegation at the end of October, during the French president's state visit to Morocco.
According to information from Agence France-Presse, confirmed by The Worldthe former confidant of Arnaud Lagardère and former director of external relations of the group was indicted, on November 6, for “complicity in buying votes and undermining the freedom of voting” and “ complicity in abuse of power.” He was not placed under judicial supervision.
Mr. Khiroun is implicated as part of one of the two parts of the judicial investigation targeting Arnaud Lagardère, indicted on April 29 for “vote buying”, “abuse of corporate assets and abuse of power” and “dissemination of information giving false or misleading indications to act on the price of a financial instrument, market manipulation”.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Arnaud Lagardère-Amber Capital affair: judicial investigation opened for vote buying and abuse of corporate assets
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Mr. Khiroun is suspected of having helped Mr. Lagardère to obtain, in the spring of 2018, the vote for Qatar Holding LLC, a subsidiary of the sovereign fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and then the main shareholder of his group (13% in capital and with 19.5% of voting rights), in favor of the management resolutions (therefore its own), during the general meeting of shareholders, on May 3, 2018. And this in return for a promise made to the Qataris: appoint Jamal Benomar, a British-Moroccan diplomat close to Doha, to the supervisory board of Lagardère SCA to represent the interests of the emirate.
A complaint from Amber Capital
The son of Jean-Luc Lagardère is implicated for other alleged facts. First, for having interfered in the election of the supervisory board, supposed to be a counter-power to management, by participating in direct negotiations with Qatari officials. Then, for having publicly presented Mr. Benomar to the shareholders as a supposedly member ” independent ” of the supervisory board during its co-optation, in September 2018, then in 2019 during a general meeting, at the risk of having harmed shareholders.
Originally, it was a complaint filed in 2021 with the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) by the activist fund Amber Capital which drew the attention of the justice system to this aspect. « Qatari” of the file. Court documents, including The World has become aware, reveal that illustrious intermediaries assisted, behind the scenes, the businessman during the negotiations with the Qataris, initially favorable to the resolutions of the Amber fund before rallying around the proposals of Mr. Lagardère, on April 29 2018.
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