Several top-level police officials and former officers have been arrested in France on suspicions of leaking information about an ongoing criminal investigation to those being targeted by the probe, officials said Wednesday, reports FRANCE 24.
Government spokesman Stéphane Le Foll confirmed the arrests of “high-level police” after Europe 1 radio reported that Bernard Petit, the head of the judicial police in Paris, was among several current and former officers being questioned.
French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve confirmed that “police and former police officers” had been taken into custody by France’s General Inspectorate of the National Police, dubbed the “police of the police”.
As well as Petit, those arrested include his chief of staff Richard Atlan and police union head Joaquin Masanet, a source close to the investigation told the AFP news agency.
The leaks concern an ongoing probe involving infamous conman Christophe Rocancourt. Known as the “conman to the stars”, Rocancourt was jailed in the United States in 2003 for defrauding Hollywood actors including Jean-Claude Van Damme and Mickey Rourke out of thousands of dollars while posing as a film producer. He served part of a four-year sentence before being deported to France in 2006.
Rocancourt was again placed under investigation in October last year on suspicions of fraud, influence peddling and money laundering.
A number of his alleged associates – including one of the founders of France’s elite GIGN special operations police unit, Christian Prouteau – are also under investigation.