Pogba case – First judicial assessment
The star of the French football team is facing a media and judicial controversy, one month before the Football World Cup kicks off in Qatar.
The case begins when Mathias Pogba, his brother, announced he was making major revelations about the player and his entourage. He said that the world “deserves to know certain things in order to decide with full knowledge of the facts whether he [Paul] really deserves admiration, respect, his place on the French team, and whether he is a person worthy of trust.”
Paul Pogba reacted through the statement of his lawyers, of Yeo Moriba (his mother) and of his agent, Rafaela Pimenta, explaining that the recent statements of Mathias Pogba on social media are unfortunately not a surprise. They come in addition to threats and extortion attempts in organised gang against the player.
Paul Pogba allegedly filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office in Turin on 16th July. The Italian justice system then alerted the prosecutor’s office in Paris on 1st August, of the facts that may have taken place in France.
In France, the prosecutor Laure Beccuau indicated that after the initial investigations, the prosecutor’s office opened a judicial investigation against an unknown defendant alleging extortion with a weapon in an organised gang, kidnapping or sequestration with release before the seventh day in an organised gang to prepare or facilitate the commission of a crime or misdemeanour, and participation in a criminal association with a view to committing a crime
The investigation is entrusted to the Central Office for Combating Organised Crime (OCLCO) of the Central Directorate of Judicial Police (DCPJ), where Paul Pogba was heard.
According to the investigation report, childhood friends of the player have benefited from his money for several years through credit purchases, investment in a restaurant and the loan of a credit card.
It seems that when Paul Pogba decided to stop these gifts, he was allegedly intimidated several times, including one time, on the sidelines of a gathering of the French team, where he was allegedly led by his friends to an apartment in the Paris region. He was then trapped by childhood friends and two hooded men armed with assault rifles. According to the radio channel France Info, Paul Pogba also said that the gang demanded 13 million euros and have intimidated him on several occasions since then, around the training center of Juventus Turin, where he told the police he recognised his brother Mathias Pogba among the suspects.
For his part, Mathias Pogba maintains his accusations. He seems to have presented himself to the investigators on Wednesday, 14th September, and allegedly recognised having filmed a video threatening his brother Paul.
In the last news, Mathias and the various blackmailers seem to have admitted having been themselves victims of pressure by other people. They were also indicted and placed in custody.
In this incredible case, the name of the PSG player and French football star Kylian Mbappé also appears. Paul Pogba allegedly explained to investigators that his blackmailers wanted to discredit him by broadcasting messages in which he apparently asked a marabout to “cast a spell” on Kylian Mbappé. Paul Pogba supposedly denied this and indicated that he had indeed called a marabout, but to help a humanitarian charity helping children in Africa.
This investigation has made the Minister for Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castra, react, saying she wants “the French team to be protected from the impact” of this affair.
Having recently injured his knee, Paul Pogba is fighting to return to the French team. Didier Deschamps, when announcing the list of “blues” for the Nations League on 15th September, announced “not knowing” whether Paul Pogba would be part of the group for the World Cup. The coach of the French team hopes nevertheless that he “can play as much as possible with Juventus before the World Cup”.
Stay tuned…
