Two French journalists were expected to be charged with attempted extortion last night after they allegedly demanded €3 million from the king of Morocco to stop writing a book that would damage his reputation.
Eric Laurent and Catherine Graciet, both specialists on the former French north African states, were arrested on Thursday at a restaurant in Paris after police observed them accepting a down payment of €80,000 from a representative of King Mohammed VI, police sources said.
The pair signed a deal at the restaurant, unaware that the Moroccans had brought in the police. The deal involved the two journalists undertaking to halt publication of the book in return for €3 million, Europe 1 radio reported. It is not clear what revelations the book promised to make.
The Paris media and book world reacted with disbelief because Mr Laurent, 68, and Ms Graciet, in her 40s, are established writers and reporters and their book was due to be published by Seuil, a prestigious house, in the new year. “When you know Catherine this appears astounding,” Nicolas Beau, a journalist, told Le Monde.
Eric Moutet, Ms Graciet’s lawyer, said: “We have few facts on the case at the moment but all this smells of a dirty trick.”
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Mr Laurent and Ms Graciet have upset the rulers of Morocco and Tunisia with previous books. Leila Trabelsi, the wife of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the former Tunisian dictator, failed in an attempt to stop Ms Graciet publishing a critical book about her in 2009. Ms Graciet and Mr Laurent angered Morocco’s Mohammed VI with a 2012 book that they wrote together called The Predator King.
Details of the arrest were given by Éric Dupond-Moretti, a Paris lawyer who represents the Moroccan monarchy. Mr Laurent had contacted the royal household on July 23 and sought a meeting. When an official met him in Paris, “Eric Laurent said ‘we are going to put out a book on the king but we won’t publish if you give us €3 million’,” said Mr Dupond-Moretti.
The Moroccans called in the French police, who set up Thursday’s restaurant meeting. The journalists were immediately taken into custody but were likely to be released on bail after initial charges were notified to them. Mr Dupond-Moretti declined to describe the damaging information that the pair had allegedly planned to reveal.
“The king is obviously shocked to be the victim of attempted blackmail,” said Mr Dupond-Moretti. “The question is, were this pair ready to do anything to make some cash or are they being used by people who want to destabilise the Moroccan regime?”