Paul Pogba’s older brother, Mathias Pogba, and four men were referred on Saturday, two of whom were already incarcerated, after being presented to an investigating judge “with a view to their indictment” as part of the investigation into the extortion denounced by the star of the Blues.
Multimillion-euro racketeering attempts, threatening video, pressure: the implications of the extortion denounced by footballer Paul Pogba are beginning to take shape with the indictment and imprisonment on Saturday September 17 of his older brother Mathias Pogba and four men.
Mathias Pogba, 32, has been indicted for extortion in an organized gang and participation in a criminal association, said a judicial source. According to a source close to the investigation, he was placed under the more favorable status of assisted witness for the facts of kidnapping on the night of March 19 to 20 and was placed in pre-trial detention.
“We are going to challenge this decision”, immediately reacted on BFMTV his lawyer, Mr.e Yassine Bouzrou, adding that “justice finds that the most serious offense charged (sequestration) does not concern my client, and unfortunately, we have a decision that goes against a file”, he said. he adds.
“This is an individual who has never been talked about, who has a clean criminal record, who is not a thug, who is presumed innocent”, he recalled, believing that he had “committed no criminal offence”.
Four other suspects, relatives of the Pogba brothers aged 27 to 36, have been indicted in particular for extortion with a weapon, kidnapping in an organized gang and criminal conspiracy.
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Three of them were remanded in custody. The fourth requested a delay and was provisionally imprisoned pending the debate before the judge of freedoms and detention (JLD), added the judicial source.
“I regret this decision, even if it was requested to protect him in particular”, reacted Me Romain Boulet who defends a 33-year-old man, imprisoned. “He is the victim of manipulation and threats from blackmailers, just like Paul Pogba. It’s a trap that has closed on him,” he said.
The second, aged 36, has already been sentenced twice for acts of a criminal nature, said a source familiar with the matter. He wore a splint during the debate before the JLD, claiming, according to this source, to have been shot in the arm in the context of the Pogba affair.
During their custody at the Central Office for the Fight against Organized Crime (Oclco), the suspects said they were “victims of individuals whose names they refuse to give”, a source close to AFP told AFP. of the investigation. But, “they contradict each other and lie,” said this source.
Mathias Pogba, what role?
The role of Mathias Pogba, 32, who went himself to the investigating service on Wednesday, is not yet “totally clear”, according to the close source. “The investigation is far from over,” she said.
In a press release released last week, Mathias Pogba, also a professional footballer but in less prestigious clubs, said he was “completely foreign to any extortion maneuver” targeting his brother.
And in the first hours of his police custody, his lawyer had assured that his client “firmly contested any participation in the acts of kidnapping and extortion with a weapon”.
He nevertheless admitted, before the investigators, to be at the initiative of the video having revealed this affair which shakes the world of football two months before the World Cup in Qatar (November 20-December 18). In this enigmatic video, released on August 27, the eldest promised “revelations” about his younger brother.
Paul Pogba, Juventus player, then announced that he had filed a complaint with the Turin (Italy) public prosecutor’s office on July 16, denouncing extortion between March and July 2022 amounting to 13 million euros.
“Organized Gang Extortion”
Judicial information was opened in Paris on September 2 for, in particular, extortion with a weapon, kidnapping or sequestration in an organized gang and participation in a criminal association.
According to Le Parisien, Mathias Pogba is also suspected of having pressured his brother’s agent, lawyer Rafaela Pimenta. He would have sent her threatening messages, in particular for her to obtain from Paul Pogba that he pay the sum claimed by his blackmailers.
The agent’s complaint for “organized gang extortion” has been joined to the ongoing proceedings, the judicial source confirmed.
Star of the France team, Paul Pogba told investigators that he was trapped by childhood friends and two hooded men, armed with assault rifles, accusing him of not having helped them financially.
Of the 13 million euros claimed, he says he paid 100,000 euros.
The 29-year-old midfielder, nicknamed the “Pickaxe”, then claimed to have recognized his brother among the suspects. However, he had estimated, during another hearing, that Mathias was “under pressure” from people wanting to extract money from him.
In this case, the name of French football star Kylian Mbappé also appears, reluctantly. According to Paul Pogba, his blackmailers wanted to discredit him by broadcasting messages in which he allegedly “asked a marabout from his family circle to cast a spell” on the PSG striker. The Juve player has denied these allegations.
With AFP