Foreign interference: political scientist Nabil Ennasri and lobbyist JP Duthion indicted. One behind bars, the other under judicial supervision

Both were indicted following their custody, with the small detail that if the lobbyist Jean-Pierre Duthion escaped prison by being placed under judicial supervision, the political scientist and expert on Qatar, Nabil Ennasri was put behind bars, in pre-trial detention.

The investigation continues into suspicions of interference in the media and with politicians. This Wednesday early evening, CheckNews learned from a judicial source that the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) had opened a judicial investigation following the police custody, carried out since Monday, the lobbyist Jean-Pierre Duthion and the political scientist, regular on TV as a “Qatar specialist”, Nabil Ennasri.

This judicial information concerns the heads of “active and passive corruption of a private person” ; “corruption and influence peddling, active and passive, in an organized group, of a public elected official” ; “breach of trust, money laundering, laundering of tax fraud, non-compliance by a representative of interest with their communication obligations to the HATVP, concealed work”. Their police custody lifted, Jean-Pierre Duthion and Nabil Ennasri were referred for their first appearance questioning by the investigating judge.

At the end of which they were indicted. Nabil Ennasri was indicted on charges of “breach of trust, private corruption, money laundering, laundering of aggravated tax fraud, corruption of a public official and influence peddling of a public official”. The qualifications held against Jean-Pierre Duthion are “corruption of a person vested with a public elective mandate in an organized gang, private corruption, influence peddling, concealed work, laundering of aggravated tax fraud and failure to declare to the HATVP as representative of interest”.