Khaberni - French law enforcement agencies carried out a search operation at the main headquarters of Edmond de Rothschild Bank in Paris, within the framework of an investigation into corruption cases related to Fabrice Aidan, the senior secretary of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Agence France-Presse reported, citing sources familiar with the investigation, that his name came up in the case against the notorious American financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Previously, the French energy company "Engie" dismissed Aidan after his name appeared in documents related to the Epstein case. On February 11th, the French Foreign Minister Jean Noel Barou announced that he had contacted the office of the Public Prosecutor to report alleged incidents related to Aidan's activities. At the time, the minister did not rule out the possibility of other French diplomats' names appearing in these documents.
The agency said: "On Friday (March 20th), an inspection was conducted at the main headquarters of Edmond de Rothschild Bank in Paris as part of an investigation started by the French National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) in a corruption case of government officials opened against the French diplomat Fabrice Aidan, involved in the Epstein scandals."
The agency noted that the inspection was conducted in the presence of the bank's CEO, Ariane de Rothschild, who was also in contact with Epstein, according to the agency.
Meanwhile, the newspaper Liberation reported that Aidan had been suspended from his position at Engie in February. It is suspected that the diplomat in question acted as an intermediary between Epstein and a high-level official at the United Nations whose name has not been disclosed. Consequently, the French National Police initiated a preliminary investigation against Aidan on charges of "corruption against a public official". In the context of this investigation, the French National Police searched Aidan's apartment and interrogated him.
On January 30th, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch announced the completion of the release of materials related to the Epstein case. The total volume of files released exceeded 3.5 million documents.
In 2019, Epstein was charged with child sex trafficking in the United States. In July of that year, he died in prison; the investigation concluded that he had committed suicide.
