Guillaume Sovant / AFP
Mathias Pogba (left) and his brother, Paul Pogba (right) footballer of Juventus Turin and France team.
Justice – Away from football fields for four years, it is in the legal field that former French international Paul Pogba is still talked about, but as a victim. Because the footballer’s kidnapping and extortion case seems to have taken an unexpected turn and concerns his brother Mathias Pogba.
Link to this case for being charged after providing suspicion “Active Help” In order to convince his brother to pay the amount demanded by the robbers, Paul Pogba’s older brother still believes that he only ” the puppet » Criminals, whom he knew very well.
He suggests this in questioning before the investigating judge responsible for investigating Paul Pogba’s abduction. An inquiry that took place on January 25, but of which the AFP only became aware on Tuesday, April 2.
“I was pushed from left to right, I was lied to from the beginning”he said, “Turned to Tears”. The reasons for his feelings? Three childhood friends and two old acquaintances from the neighborhood where Pogba grew up played it possible with the events of the night of March 19, 2022, where Paul Pogba was kidnapped and robbed in the Parisian suburbs. Two unknown men demanded 13 million euros from him.
Pity Matthias
All present that night, unlike Mathias, would be convicted of armed extortion and kidnapping by an organized gang. But until then, Mathias Pogba believed his version, he explained to the judge. Because each person denied the facts and also explained that they were attacked because Paul Pogba refused to pay the requested amount.
So Mathias Pogba decided to talk to his younger brother to convince him to pay to avoid others. the victims » Among those close to him. But on January 25, the magistrate revealed to him the results of the exploitation of the suspect’s cell phone. And Matthias apparently fell from a height as these new elements outline, according to investigators, “organization” At least two suspects, Adama C. and Mamadou M. terrible night by.
“They are like brothers to us”Reacting thus, Juventus disappointed the Turin player’s brother. “They come and tell me all this as if they were victims when everything was already arranged”He added that when he himself published videos in the summer of 2022 incriminating his younger brother, believing that the footballer had “Abandoned” His loved ones by refusing to pay.
A media twist and comments he regrets today: “I hope to see him again as soon as possible. (…) It will take as long as it takes but I hope that our union will be reunited. », before adding with these videos, he “Wanted to release anger” But “at some point” Put pressure on it.
Commission than extortion?
It must be said that several telephone exchanges raise suspicions against the two childhood friends of the Pogba family. On March 10, nine days before the abduction, Adama C. was arrested by Mamadou M. Received a voice note from: “You have to hit hard, hard, hard, hard, hard, but then if you really ask for 25 (…) that’s a quarter of your luck, bro (…) you have to do things well, (. .. don’t take it away”.
Adama C. Also calls a friend living abroad. Heard in police custody in mid-November, the latter said that Adama C. had told him: “Come on, we’ll talk to Paul to get some money (…) we don’t want to miss the train”. Adama also offers to pay for his plane ticket to the metropolis. He refuses because it smells bad, usually “Peaceful”, Enough “itch” for that, “Paul promised what he did not do”It analyzes.
He claims to have warned the 2018 world champion that people were upset with him “Name”. All this interesting” institution » Earlier, the investigating judge had therefore interrogated the two suspects at the end of December. But their version suggests that they planned to get a dream commission by becoming Paul Pogba’s agent. So extortion has nothing to do with the project.
“When I said we have to fight hard, I said everyone has to speak up” for “Go hand in hand”, but Mamadou assured the judge. It remains to be seen whether this version will be convincing enough to avoid conviction for two of the football star’s childhood friends who were heavily sanctioned for doping in Italy last month.
See also on The HuffPost:
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