On the fifth day of the trial brought against him and other relatives by his brother Paul Pogba, former midfielder of the French football team, Mathias Pogba defended himself this Tuesday, December 3, from accusations of extortion made against him. against, and he expressed a stubborn bitterness towards his younger brother.
Mathias Pogba is “iron” of his little brother Paul, former midfielder for the French team, he “always been there for him and [sera] always”. He has never been “envious” in “jealous” with regard to the fortune or notoriety of his younger brother, whose career as a professional footballer never really took off. Of course he “100% regret” the harm he may have caused to Paul, but he still dwells, two years after the events, on the latter’s attitude towards him – “I would like to understand why he didn’t tell me anything […]. If I had known the truth before, it would have avoided a lot of things.”
With his dark suit and his lanky gait which inevitably recalls that of his famous brother, Mathias Pogba spoke before the Paris criminal court, this Tuesday, December 3, for the first time since the start a week earlier of the trial brought against him and other close siblings by Paul Pogba himself. For more than four hours, he tried to defend himself from the accusations of attempted extortion and participation in a criminal conspiracy for which he is being prosecuted, admitting mistakes but often placing the blame on others, including the winner of the 2018 World Cup, absent since the start of the debates.
“A poor opinion of his brother”
Of the six defendants appearing in court, Mathias Pogba, 34, is the only face known to the public. But he is also the one against whom the charges brought by the courts are the least serious. Because he was not present during this sordid evening of March 19, 2022 which led to his co-defendants being prosecuted for kidnapping and sequestration. That day, Paul Pogba was threatened by two armed and hooded men while he was in an apartment in Seine-et-Marne with his friends, who are suspected of having staged the robbery to extract money to the footballer.
Mathias Pogba was not informed of this traumatic event by anyone, he assures. It was only four months later, on July 13, 2022, through an unexpected meeting leaving a gym in Noisy-le-Grand, that his friends, and in particular Roushdane K, also accused in the trial , report the matter to him. “They tell me that they have to tell me something, something crazysays Mathias Pogba. They explain to me that they were all robbed by the kidnappers, that they are all victims, and that they are in danger.”
Already at the time, and for at least a year, relations between the two brothers had deteriorated significantly. During the judicial investigation, Mathias Pogba confided that he “a low opinion of his brother […] in connection with the financial support that the latter was likely to provide to family members”. The cadet, in return, deplored to the investigators the “financial relationship” that he ended up discussing with his eldest – “I paid him money, and he asked me for more“. At the end of his contract with the small Belfort club, Mathias Pogba is preparing his departure for Australia, a new stage in an atypical career which has already taken him to England, the Netherlands and Slovenia. Paul Pogba returned to Juventus in Turin after a six-year stint at Manchester United, and the two do not see each other “not frequently” at this period.
“We are afraid of being next”
The football star even refuses to receive his brother, who came to visit him in Italy with four friends on July 14 – for “play [son] role and big brother and have his own version” events of March, according to Mathias Pogba – and ignored his calls throughout the summer. The big brother understands less and less the silence of the Blues midfielder, especially as he ends up fearing for his own safety: at the end of July, he claims to have been “robbed” in his town of Roissy-en-Brie, in Seine-et-Marne, by two men who were passing by in a car and ordered him to “say to [son] brother to find a solution”. Roushdane K. also told him that he had been shot in the hand by strangers who accused him of not returning the money requested from Paul Pogba. “At that point, I was in total panic. We’re afraid of being next.”souffle Mathias Pogba.
Twice during the summer of 2022, always accompanied by several of the other defendants, he visited his mother, Yeo Moriba (who has been attending the trial since the first day). For him “put pressure” and encourage him to convince his youngest son to pay the thirteen million euros demanded from him by his blackmailers, the prosecution maintains. Only for “keep her informed of the danger we are experiencing”contests the accused.
At the end of August, he took the confrontation a step further. On social networks, he published a threatening video in which he promised “great revelations”capable of harming the career and image of his brother. The affair becomes public, and the big brother, who sees himself in “head of the family” capable of “take care of [siens]», is soon placed in pre-trial detention – he will be held for three months at the Villepinte remand center, in Seine-Saint-Denis.
“You never asked for the details, isn’t that too bad?”
Two years later, Mathias Pogba now describes himself as a “puppet” in this matter. He accuses Roushdane K., the only one of the defendants to appear in pre-trial detention, also the one with the longest criminal record, of having “used”. “He didn’t tell me the truth”he regrets about the robbery of March 19, 2022. But he also blames his brother. “During this whole period, things were not going well. I made a million mistakes for a monthconfesses the defendant. […] But I did all this because I didn’t know anything. I’m his brother, he should have warned me. I was thrown into the jungle, told to get lost. At that moment, I was in emotional shock. I am no longer Mathias, me, as I am. I feel like expressing myself on social media is my only way out. This is what I deeply regret.”
The president of the court is surprised by his eagerness to believe Roushdane K.’s version, his lack of curiosity, the few questions about the events he asked his comrades as well as Rafaela Pimenta, his brother’s agent : “You never asked for the details, isn’t that too bad?” “Yes, it’s a shame”he only replies. Mathias Pogba faces up to five years in prison.
