The backpack weighs a lot. It was deliberately abandoned under a table by Le Monde's source in a bar in eastern Paris in early February. Inside, there are a few kilograms worth of printed emails and various documents. And, above all, if we are to believe the veracity of these documents, several billion euros of public funds potentially embezzled right in the heart of the Principality of Monaco. The source seems reliable, but it all needs to be verified, obviously.
Some confidential emails appear to be genuine, hacked from email inboxes. There are also bank account statements, listed in Switzerland. Millions of euros are exchanged and names appear... Four in particular: Didier Linotte, the French president of the Monegasque Supreme Court (the local constitutional court); Claude Palmero, a chartered accountant and Prince Albert II's right-hand man and administrator of his assets; Laurent Anselmi, the prince's chief of staff; and Thierry Lacoste, a lawyer and Albert's childhood friend.
It's important to remember these names. They are the prince's trusted men; everything in the Principality goes through them. There were already whispers in Monaco about what they were up to – either real or suspected – but these documents incriminate them in broad daylight. They've been accused of forming a sort of "G4," a discreet but sprawling organization, with Albert II in the background as a naive and overwhelmed sovereign.
Should we blindly believe this "intelligence" served to us on a platter? A scandalous notion starts to take shape: These men of influence are allegedly skimming off money from real estate operations carried out in the Principality. We're talking about hectares of expansion into the sea, huge towers and buildings that are built only to be demolished a few years later so they can be rebuilt higher, flashier and more profitable.
Three clans stake their claim
You only have to walk through the microstate's congested streets to notice how cranes are part of the landscape. Building sites are everywhere; Ferraris, Porsches and other sports cars skid between temporary buildings for construction workers. To the east, as part of the Testimonio II project, two tower blocks – 27 floors and 30 floors respectively – are being built. There is also the new Mareterra district, encroaching on the Mediterranean, or the Îlot Pasteur, a building spanning 100,000 square meters. Monaco is 4.8 kilometers of shoreline, only 200 hectares of steep terrain, 38,000 inhabitants, including 8,000 Monegasque people and 749 Russians and holds the world record for the highest real estate price per square meter (up to 100,000 euros!) and is therefore a favorite hunting ground of builders and developers.
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