CASE BENALLA VINCENT CRASE WOULD HAVE RECEIVED

3OO OOO EUROS FROM A NEAR POUTINE

He had been implicated on 19 July in the violence against protesters on 1 May at the Place de la Contrescarpe. The annoying detail: the payment was made before his dismissal on July 31, 2018.

The Benalla affair is experiencing another embarrassing rebound for the Élysée.

Indeed, on June 28, Vincent Crase received the sum of 294,000 euros from a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin while he was at the same time still security agent for the Republic in March (LREM) and with the 'Elysium.

This sum would have been paid to the Mars Conseil company, a luxury concierge offering services to wealthy clients, from the driver to the bodyguard. Vincent Crase is the only shareholder.

The contract concerned the protection of relatives and property of Mr. Makhmudov, who is at the head of an industrial empire and owner of several properties in France.

.Connections with the Moscow Mafia?

This Russian oligarch, close to Vladimir Putin, is the 211th world fortune, according to Forbes magazine. But the Russian businessman is especially suspected "by several European magistrates to be linked to the Russian mafia," says Mediapart, and more particularly to the Moscow crime group Ismajlovskaya, known as one of the most dangerous in the world.

The amount of the transaction attracted the attention of Tracfin, the Ministry of the Economy's service in charge of the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

To fulfill the contract, Vincent Crase had recourse to the security company Velours, the former employer of Alexandre Benalla. The latter told Le Point that "Vincent Crase [presented] it to the leaders of Velvet in 2012.

He knew them before [him]. "He himself worked for the company from 2013 to 2015.

Alexandre Benalla has denied any involvement and added "[have nothing] to do with this story.We continue to want to get dirty while this contract is the private and professional life of Mr. Crase who is my friend, displeased to some. "