France's former intelligence chief faces trial for attempted extortion

Bernard Bajolet, former head of France's foreign intelligence service, is due to face trial for attempted extortion of a businessman who the spy agency claims owes it millions of euros linked to murky investments.

In a case that has exposed the secretive financial dealings of France's foreign intelligence service, former director Bernard Bajolet stands accused of plotting to coerce a businessman into handing over millions of euros that the spy agency claims it is owed from investments.

Bajolet is alleged to have instructed agents working for the DGSE, which he led from 2013 to 2017, to pressure entrepreneur Alain Duménil, with whom the agency was engaged in a lengthy dispute.

Duménil claims he was detained at a Paris airport as he prepared to board a flight and threatened with harm to himself and his family unless he handed over 15 million euros, an account the DGSE contests.

Now a judge has ruled there is sufficient evidence to try Bajolet for complicity in attempted extortion over the 2016 incident, according to a ruling seen on Tuesday by the news agency AFP.

It orders him to appear in criminal court outside Paris, where he will face the charge of "arbitrary infringement of individual liberty as a holder of public authority".

Shadowy fortune

The case has provided a rare glimpse into the financial interests of the DGSE, which is entrusted with managing a war chest designed to secure the state in the event of a national emergency.

Seeded by the damages paid to France after World War I, the capital was kept separate from the agency's operational budget and placed in investments that helped it grow substantially over the decades.

Seeking to extricate itself from loss-making companies and recover its funds, the service entered into a deal to exchange shares with Duménil in the early 2000s.


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