PARIS: In this file photo taken on February 24, 2018 French president Emmanuel Macron (C,L) flanked by Elysee senior security officer Alexandre Benalla (C,R) visits the 55th International Agriculture Fair (Salon de l'Agriculture) at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center. - AFP

PARIS:
Accusations flew in France on Friday between the office of President Emmanuel
Macron and his disgraced ex-bodyguard Alexandre Benalla over diplomatic
passports he was supposed to hand over when he was sacked. Foreign Minister
Jean-Yves Le Drian is set to refer the case to prosecutors after reports that
Benalla repeatedly used the passports following his dismissal in August.

Any use of these
passports after he was sacked "would be against the law", the foreign
ministry warned in a statement. Benalla, in a letter to Macron's chief of staff
Patrick Strzoda, of which AFP has obtained a copy, acknowledged that he had
been in contact with Elysee staff since his departure. But he insisted that none
of his subsequent activities had had anything to do with the government.

"At all
times while carrying out the functions entrusted to me by the Elysee, I never
carried out personal and private missions and certainly never received payment
as a result, directly or indirectly," he added. "I have never used
any recommendation or support from the presidency in the context of my new
activities", he wrote.

To suggest so
would be a complete lie and defamatory, he added. Benalla, Macron's campaign
bodyguard who was granted a senior security job following the centrist's
election victory last year, had twice been requested to give the passports
back, the foreign ministry statement said. But Benalla's entourage told AFP the
passports were returned to him after he was sacked.

He left them in
his "office at the Elysee, and then they were given back", a source
close to Benalla said, accusing opponents of seeking to "destroy his
reputation". His entourage refused to comment on how Benalla may have used
the passports. On Thursday, investigative website Mediapart reported that
Benalla used a diplomatic passport to enter several African countries as well
as Israel in recent weeks.

'President must
reveal truth'

Benalla was at
the centre of a major scandal this summer after it emerged in July that he
roughed up protesters during a May Day demonstration in Paris while wearing a
police helmet. He was not fired until after the media revelations, prompting a
wave of accusations from government opponents of a presidential cover-up.

Benalla is now
generating more unwelcome headlines following reports that he has been meeting
with senior African officials, sparking concern among officials that he has
been profiting from his former insider status. He met with Chad's President
Idriss Deby earlier this month, and Le Monde newspaper reported that he also
met with the Republic of Congo's President Denis Sassou-Nguesso as well as top
officials in Cameroon.

Further
suggestions that Benalla may have used a diplomatic passport for these African
travels have sparked a flurry of criticism among government opponents.
"The president must reveal the truth on this affair, it's very
serious," said Laurence Sailliet, a spokeswoman for the rightwing
Republicans party. The scandal is back in the news at an unwelcome time for
Macron, who has suffered weeks of violent "yellow vest"
anti-government protests. - AFP