Investigations targeting the Franco-Russian Dialogue association dismissed

The two investigations opened to seek to establish whether two officials of the Franco-Russian Dialogue association, a MEP and a former senator, had obtained advantages in exchange for positions favorable to Moscow were closed without further action, we learned on Wednesday 23 October Agence France-Presse (AFP) from a judicial source.

“The investigations carried out did not make it possible to characterize the offenses initially suspected. The investigations were therefore closed, one for lack of offense, the other for insufficiently characterized offense.said this source.

MEP Thierry Mariani (Patriots for Europe, far right), who has co-chaired the association since 2012, and Yves Pozzo di Borgo, former centrist senator, member of the association and president of a consulting company, were at the center of investigations, revealed the daily The World in 2022.

First opened in 2021 by the Paris public prosecutor's office, these investigations were transmitted to the national financial prosecutor's office (PNF) on February 17, 2023. One related to suspicions of corruption and influence peddling, the other to a breach of trust and money laundering. The two investigations, opened following a report from Tracfin, the financial intelligence unit of the Ministry of the Economy, were closed on October 10.

According to a source close to the investigation, justice was seeking to find out to what extent gifts, in particular trips financed by Russia, could have served as compensation for positions favorable to Russia.

Suspicions of money laundering

“I'm glad it's over. I hope that all those who repeated these accusations for three years will apologize to me”reacted Thierry Mariani, contacted by AFP, who says he was heard in July 2023 by police officers from the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses (OCLCIFF), on “his finances” and his « voyages »among others. “All my trips to Russia were declared when they were paid”he assured.

According to a source close to the case, the investigators examined the accounts of Dialogue franco-russe and focused in particular on a departure bonus for a former director of the association, which had not been declared to the tax authorities.

Mr. Mariani was also suspected of having possibly laundered Russian money through a ghost driving school in the Paris suburbs, opened in his name in spring 2021, according to the same source.

“A crazy story. The piece that was used to put this together comes from a Ukrainian site, Myrotvorets (where his passport is freely accessible). Even if I have no proof, I know that the word “kompromat” is also used in Ukraine”added Mr. Mariani, who filed a complaint, consulted by AFP, in August 2023 for identity theft. Mr Pozzo di Borgo did not wish to speak.

The Franco-Russian Dialogue association was created in 2004 under the patronage of French Presidents Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin. She presents herself as “a privileged instrument of communication between the political, economic and cultural circles of the two countries” and aims to “contribute to the deepening of strategic relations and the privileged partnership between France and Russia”.