The former LREM MP from Paris is suspected of having made things easier for PSG in several cases in exchange for tickets to attend the capital club’s matches. The forty-year-old believes he has done nothing illegal.
The sprawling affair continues to expand. Former Macronist vice-president of the Assembly Hugues Renson was indicted on Thursday, September 5 in Paris for influence peddling, suspected of having worked for political decisions favorable to PSG in exchange for tickets to prestigious matches or other rewards from the club, AFP learned from a source close to the case.
Hugues Renson, 46, MP for Paris from 2017 to 2022 and currently secretary general of EDF Hydro according to his personal bio, was questioned for many hours by a Parisian financial investigating judge who indicted him at the end of the day and placed him under judicial supervision, according to the source close to the case. “Hugues Renson contests this. He did not commit any illegal act in the course of his duties.”his lawyer Mario Stasi told AFP.
According to the elements of the investigation that AFP has seen, Mr. Renson is accused of having, as an elected official, obtained tickets for club matches, benefits for his family or requested a job at PSG. In exchange, according to this source, the man who had created an informal group of MPs who were friends of PSG is suspected of having used his “actual or supposed influence” to obtain for the club owned by Qatar “favorable decisions of a public authority or administration”concerning a gym for a judo subsidiary of PSG, the club’s training center, a visa for staff, etc.
Investigation in drawers
In this multi-layered investigation, opened in the summer of 2021, several protagonists, former police officers, club personalities or lobbyists, are suspected of having provided mutual services in exchange for benefits from PSG or in favor of the club. Since September 2022, an investigating judge has been dealing with this case, opened in particular on the offenses of influence peddling and corruption, and has indicted several people including Jean-Martial Ribes, former director of communications for the club, Malik Nait-Liman, former supporter representative for the club and former police officer in the intelligence services, police officers and the Franco-Algerian lobbyist Tayeb Benabderrahmane.
The name of Hugues Renson, as well as that of a former advisor to the sports unit of the Elysée, Charlotte Casasoprana, appeared in this investigation during the“mobile phone data extraction” of Jean-Martial Ribes, the IGPN specified in a report dated November 2023 consulted by AFP. The two were heard in a free hearing in May in the premises of the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN).
According to telephone conversations seen by AFP, Mr. Renson contacted Interior Ministers Christophe Castaner, in office between 2018 and 2020, or Gérald Darmanin (2020-2024), after requests from Mr. Ribes. Heard as a witness in May, one of Mr. Renson’s former collaborators in the Assembly between 2017 and 2020 estimated that “about twenty” the number of places offered by PSG to the MP in the “Carré”, the very chic and prestigious space for the club’s approximately 200 distinguished guests. According to messages obtained by investigators on Mr. Renson’s phone, the figure could reach around thirty between 2017 and 2021.
«Nasser t’invite au match»
«Nasser» Al-Khelaïfi, civil party in this case and Qatari boss of PSG, «t’invite au match»wrote for example Mr. Ribes in April 2021, two days before an important Champions League quarter-final in Paris. Asked about specific interventions by Mr. Renson in favor of the Parisian club, the former parliamentary attaché minimized: “We’ve seen so many things happen and had them happen that I don’t have any specific memories of them.” Another former collaborator indicated at the end of April that the invitations “were linked to (the) function” of Mr. Renson and were not “not gifts” but an approach “quite frequent” for elected officials. He sometimes went to the Park “with friends who are MPs”she stressed. What about interventions for requests “private”, for example for the ex-director of communication of PSG? Hugues Renson “intervened as a deputy towards an administrator”replied this former collaborator.
Renson’s name also appears in the investigation into suspicions of tax favors granted to the Parisian club during the transfer of Brazilian striker Neymar in 2017, which has been the subject of a separate procedure since the beginning of 2024. The justice system is wondering whether the former vice-president of the National Assembly tried to obtain tax advantages from the government for PSG during the transfer for 222 million euros (the most expensive in history) of the Brazilian superstar to the capital club.
