French Judicial Inquiry Reveals More about Franco-Moroccan Journalist Rachid M’Barki’s Involvement in Promoting ‘Moroccan Sahara’ Falsehood
BY: Hana Saada
ALGIERS- Jean-Pierre Duthion, a member of the French pressure group accused of foreign interference in French politics, has confessed to providing commissions to former journalist at BFM TV, Rachid M’Barki. He admitted to providing cash expenses and transferring 2000 euros to Rachid M’Barki.
This revelation came during Duthion’s interrogation by the investigating judge on January 12 in Paris, according to a source close to the investigation reported by Le Monde.
The Franco-Moroccan journalist Rachid M’Barki received financial payments to disseminate news, requested by the Moroccan regime, to promote the falsehood of the “Moroccan Sahara” in the French media. He confessed for the first time to investigators, while under provisional detention, stating that he received cash amounts ranging from 6000 to 8000 euros, as reported by La Parisienne last Friday.
L’Opinion added that the investigations “revealed text messages on the phone of pressure group member Jean-Pierre Duthion, who was intervening in the journalist’s topics and directing them.” The investigation also uncovered “a bank account for M’Barki opened in Morocco, to which the pressure group member was transferring money.”
On December 19, a French court charged Moroccan journalist Rachid M’Barki with “breach of trust and passive private corruption” following a complaint from BFM TV related to the broadcast of misleading and biased reports in favor of Morocco regarding the occupied Western Sahara.
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