FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron's chief of staff Alexis Kohler has been indicted over a conflict of interest in his links with the Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), now rated the biggest container shipper in the world, Reuters reports.
'The office confirms the indictment of Alexis Kohler, currently the secretary-general of the french presidency, for unlawful taking of interest,' said the official statement.
The charges come after anti-graft group Anticor filed a complaint accusing Kohler of breaking conflict-of-interest rules after it emerged he had family links to the Italian owners of MSC, for whom he had worked in between two government jobs.
Kohler, Macron's closest adviser, sits at the top of the Elysee Palace's administrative pyramid, and news of his indictment - a legal step that puts him under formal investigation in France - is a blow.
President Macron's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Le Figaro newspaper said Macron had decided to keep Kohler in the job despite the investigation.
'Alexis Kohler strongly challenges having committed any crime. The subsequent procedure, to which he now has access, will enable him to prove his innocence, ' his lawyer Eric Dezeuze told Reuters.
MSC, which runs cruise ships, is one of the biggest clients of French shipyard Chantiers de l'Atlantique, the maker of the Queen Mary 2, which the French government has tried to restructure several times over the past decades.
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'The office confirms the indictment of Alexis Kohler, currently the secretary-general of the french presidency, for unlawful taking of interest,' said the official statement.
The charges come after anti-graft group Anticor filed a complaint accusing Kohler of breaking conflict-of-interest rules after it emerged he had family links to the Italian owners of MSC, for whom he had worked in between two government jobs.
Kohler, Macron's closest adviser, sits at the top of the Elysee Palace's administrative pyramid, and news of his indictment - a legal step that puts him under formal investigation in France - is a blow.
President Macron's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Le Figaro newspaper said Macron had decided to keep Kohler in the job despite the investigation.
'Alexis Kohler strongly challenges having committed any crime. The subsequent procedure, to which he now has access, will enable him to prove his innocence, ' his lawyer Eric Dezeuze told Reuters.
MSC, which runs cruise ships, is one of the biggest clients of French shipyard Chantiers de l'Atlantique, the maker of the Queen Mary 2, which the French government has tried to restructure several times over the past decades.
SeaNews Turkey