Alexandre Benalla, the controversial ex-security employee of France’s head of state, Emmanuel Macron, has admitted mistakes in the diplomatic passport case. „The passes were not disabled, otherwise I would not have traveled with them. I acknowledge a mistake on my part, „Benalla told the Senate today.
Benalla did not want to comment in detail on the use of the passports after his expulsion from the Elysee Palace in July 2018, as the subject of ongoing judicial investigations was.
This is the second time that the former employee has had to explain himself to the Senate. In September he had stated that the passports were in his office at the Elysee Palace. He then said that he said then that he thought the passports were there.
Benalla: „I will not extort anyone“
Last week, Macron’s chief executive officer Patrick Strzoda told the Senate that Benalla had traveled around 20 times with diplomatic passports after being ejected. Previously, media had reported about it.
The judiciary has already opened investigations because Benalla is said to have unjustifiably used the passports after his sacking. To rumors that Benalla had secrets from his time at the Elysee Palace, he said, „I have no secrets. No secrets about anyone. I do not blackmail anyone. “
At least since the summer, the name Benalla is a household name in France. He had been accused by the media last summer of violently attacking demonstrators. He then had to leave the Elysee Palace.
