The police custody of Alexandre Benalla and his wife, heard for suspicion of contract with a Russian oligarch, extended

The hearings of the former advisor to Emmanuel Macron and his partner, "are still underway," these sources told AFP.They can last 48 hours.

Alexandre Benalla is questioned by the Parisian police officers of the Brigade of Repression of Economic Delinquency (BRDE) for "suspicions of money laundering aggravated tax fraud, false and use of false, abuse of social goods, trafficking in influence influenceand corruption ", according to a judicial source.

The investigation, conducted under the authority of the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF), is interested in the role that Alexandre Benalla would have played in signing a contract with the sulphurous Oligarch Ishkander Makhmudov, while he was stationedThe Elysée, as assistant to the chief of staff of President Emmanuel Macron in charge of security issues.

This contract was signed in June 2018 between his ex-acolyte Vincent Crase, sentenced with him in November in the violence trial committed during the demonstrations of May 1, 2018, and M.Makhmudov, via the Société Mars de l'Employé de LREM.

Les gardes à vue d'Alexandre Benalla et de son épouse, entendus pour soupçon de contrat avec un oligarque russe, prolongées

Before the senatorial commission of inquiry on violence committed on May 1, 2018, M.Benalla had assured that he had not taken part in the negotiation of this contract.

It was "a completely clear contract, signed by lawyers, and not a false contract as I have read sometimes," said Mr..Crase in April 2019, during an interview in Paris Normandy, ensuring that he had "never met" the Russian oligarch.

The PNF and the BRDE are also interested in a contract signed with another Russian oligarch, Farkhad Akhmedov, businessman and former senator, who made a fortune in particular in the energy sector.

During his trial in September for the violence of May 1, M.Benalla had declared that he had settled in Morocco after her dismissal of the Elysée and having founded a consulting structure, speaking of a contract with M.Akhmedov for an amount of 353.000 euros, "declared to the taxman", he insisted.