The lobbyist Tayeb Benabderrahmane. © LinkedIn de Tayeb Benabderrahmane.

It is the latest development in a complex affair involving the French football club Paris Saint-Germain, the state of Qatar, a lobbyist, a former French intelligence agent and accusations of illicit espionage. The lobbyist in question, Franco-Algerian businessman Tayeb Benabderrahmane, was arrested and detained for several months in Doha in 2020 after having obtained confidential information belonging to the PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi. Tayeb Benabderrahmane was later able to leave Qatar after reportedly signing a secret agreement and handing over all the information he possessed. However, according to a document seen by Mediapart, the lobbyist had kept hold of some of the confidential information on the PSG boss and wanted to ask for 100 million euros from the emirate, who own PSG, in return for his silence. Tayeb Benabderrahmane, who faces separate allegations involving private and illicit investigations on behalf of the football club, denies all the claims. Yann Philippin reports.

Convicted mayor Patrick Balkany leaving the La Santé prison in Paris, February 12th 2020. © Photo François Guillot / AFP

On Monday December 5th former French president Nicolas Sarkozy began an appeal hearing following his conviction for corruption in the so-called 'Paul Bismuth' or phone-tapping case. At the original trial the ex-head of state was given a jail sentence but has not served a single night in prison. Mediapart's legal affairs correspondent Michel Deléan explains why it is that French politicians who are convicted in corruption cases so very rarely serve jail time despite the heavy prison sentences that such offences can attract.

Riad Salamé in his office at the Lebanese central bank in Beirut, December 20th 2021. © Photo Joseph Eid / AFP

Anna Kosakova, the  girlfriend of Riad Salamé, governor of the Banque du Liban, is suspected of having benefited from funds that were misappropriated from Lebanon's central bank. She has been placed under formal investigation by a judge in Paris for “criminal conspiracy” and “money laundering”. According to the investigation, up to to 246 million dollars were transferred to personal bank accounts belonging to the governor's brother.  In particular, judges are looking at the purchase of a number of commercial properties in central Paris which were then managed by the central banker's girlfriend. Karl Laske reports.

Agnès Pannier-Runacher and Nicolas Bays in the Élysée courtyard during Emmanuel Macron's investiture as president on May 7th 2022. © Photo Sébastien Calvet / Mediapart

A number of officials at the Ministry for Energy Transition, which is headed by Agnès Pannier-Runacher, are said to be at the end of their tether. The minister's partner Nicolas Bays, who has no title or role there, is reported to have constantly intervened to give orders or put pressure on ministerial staff. In addition, several former Parliamentary staff have told Mediapart that they were victims of inappropriate gestures made by Nicolas Bays at the National Assembly several years ago when he was a Member of Parliament. He denies the allegations. Lénaïg Bredoux, Antton Rouget and Ellen Salvi report.

Gaël Perdriau, mayor of Saint-Étienne and president of the Saint-Étienne metropolitan district, September 24th 2021. © Vero Martin / Hans Lucas via AFP

After twelve days of unprecedented censorship, a court in Paris has overturned the gagging order that had banned Mediapart from publishing an investigation into the political practices of Gaël Perdriau, mayor of Saint-Étienne. The injunction was granted on November 18th following an ex parte application by the mayor's lawyer. As it was an ex parte application – meaning that only the applicant's side was present - Mediapart was not informed of it and was thus not present to defend its case. That injunction was widely condemned, with the broad-left political coalition NUPES describing it as “incomprehensible”. Now, on Wednesday November 30th, the same judge who made the first ruling has overturned her own verdict, stating that she had been misinformed by Perdriau's lawyer at the initial application. Fabrice Arfi reports on this victory for the freedom of the press.

In a deepening crisis: French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne and President Emmanuel Macron. © Photo illustration Sébastien Calvet / Mediapart avec AFP

The French government on Thursday announced it will use an article of the constitution that allows it to adopt as legislation its proposed and hotly contested reform of the pensions system without a vote in Parliament. In this op-ed analysis of the move, Mediapart political correspondent Ilyes Ramdani argues that it is not only the latest manifestation of President Emmanuel Macron’s top-down exercise of power, but it may also represent one too many, opening up a profound crisis into which his second and final term in office is now plunged.

November 27th 2022: the crater and destruction left by a Russian missile strike on homes in Dnipro. © Igor Ishchuk for Mediapart

The true toll of civilian casualties in the war in Ukraine remains unclear, with estimates ranging from 17,000 dead and wounded (according to UN figures) to more than 40,000 dead (according to the US military). Following Ukraine’s recapture earlier this month of the southern city of Kherson, Russia has intensified its missile strikes across the country, many of them landing on civilian areas. Mediapart’s Mathilde Goanec reports here from two cities targeted by the attacks: Mykolaiv, in the south-east, close to the Black Sea, and Dnipro, in the centre-south.

Twana Mamand Mohammad, 18, lost in the Channel in November 2021. © DR

On November 24th last year, an inflatable dinghy carrying at least 33 migrants across the Channel from France to England took on water and sank, leaving just two survivors. The bodies of 27 people were recovered, and at least four others were never found, including that of the 18-year-old brother of Zana Mamand Mohammad. He travelled to Paris from Iraq this month to meet with French investigators who have established that rescue services were repeatedly called for help, but failed to respond. “How could the French and English authorities have left children, women and men die at sea while for hours they had raised the alarm about their sinking?” he asked in an interview with Mediapart. 

© Illustration Simon Toupet / Mediapart

Following the extraordinary gagging order issued by a Paris judge last Friday to prevent Mediapart from publishing a report on a serious political scandal surrounding Gaël Perdriau, mayor of the French town of Saint-Étienne, numerous fellow journalists, the legal profession, rights groups and cross-party members of both houses of the French parliament have expressed their outrage.

A Paris judge has imposed a gagging order on Mediapart which prohibits it from publishing new revelations in its investigation into the highly questionable political practices of Gaël Perdriau, mayor of Saint-Étienne. The Mediapart investigation has previously revealed the blackmailing of the town’s deputy mayor, a rival of Perdriau's, using a compromising ‘sex tape’ video. As Mediapart’s publishing editor Edwy Plenel details here, the gagging order, which was made at the request of Perdriau and without allowing Mediapart any legal opportunity to oppose it, is an unprecedented attack against the freedom of the press in France. 

© Illustration Justine Vernier / Mediapart

The 2022 World Cup, steeped in controversy, finally opened in Qatar on Sunday. All of those who, through multiple dealings and arrangements, accepted or promoted its hosting by the Gulf state, have an enormous amount to answer for over their responsibility for the consequences, notably the deaths of thousands of migrant construction workers, an environmental disaster and political scandal. Michaël Hajdenberg presents a brief analysis of what we know of the dark background to the tournament.

© Photo illustration Sébastien Calvet / Mediapart

The brutality, stubbornness and indifference of the French government – as exemplified by its current pension reforms - is exposing the country to deep democratic dangers. A combination of political democracy and economic democracy is the only viable alternative to the breakdown of France's Fifth Republic, argue Mediapart's Fabien Escalona and Romaric Godin in this op-ed article.

Senator Guy Benarroche from the green EELV party with survivors from 'Ocean Viking', November 13th 2022. © Photo : Pierre Isnard-Dupuy

On Friday November 11th the 230 migrants who had been on board the 'Ocean Viking' finally disembarked at Toulon on the French Mediterranean coast after a diplomatic tussle between Paris and Rome. On Sunday Mediapart joined French Parliamentarians who visited the migrants at the 'waiting zone' where they have been held since leaving the humanitarian vessel. The leftwing politicians left the site voicing doubts about whether the migrants' asylum rights are being respected. And migrant group activists say that the survivors from the ship should be freed immediately because of the hardships they have suffered and their vulnerability. Pierre Isnard-Dupuy reports.

The Sanofi factory at Val-de-Reuil in Normandy, September 5th 2022. © Lou Benoist / AFP

The Covid-19 vaccine produced by pharmaceutical firm Sanofi has finally been approved by European regulators, well after rival products from its competitors. But while the French fgroup may have been last in getting a vaccine ready to fight the pandemic, it is a different story when it comes to lobbying. As Rozenn Le Saint reports, over the last two years Sanofi has spent more than its rivals in a bid to influence the authorities in Paris and Brussels.

Marine Le Pen surrounded by fellow MPs from the far-right RN at the National Assembly, October 3rd 2022. © Xose Bouzas / Hans Lucas via AFP

Despite a history marked by anti-Semitism, the far-right Rassemblement National wants to preside over a working group on the subject at the National Assembly. The authorities at the French Parliament are due to make a decision on this on December 7th. Marine Turchi looks at the reaction to the RN's request, examines the history of a party that was founded as the Front National in 1972, and explains why it now wants to head a group tackling anti-Semitism.