Charles Alloncle cleared as French prosecutor dismisses illegal‑interest complaint

The French National Financial Prosecutor (Parquet national financier) has closed the complaint filed by the anti‑corruption association AC!! against deputy Charles Alloncle. The complaint alleged that Alloncle, the rapporteur of the parliamentary commission investigating public audiovisual media, had taken illegal interest and engaged in influence‑peddling by using question lists supplied by Lagardère News, a media group in which the Bolloré family holds a controlling stake.

The prosecutor concluded that the legal concept of “illegal interest” does not apply to work carried out within a parliamentary inquiry and that there was insufficient evidence to prove an undue advantage or influence. Alloncle maintained that he never met Lagardère News’s president Constance Benqué and that he kept “the strictest independence” throughout the commission’s six‑month investigation. The commission’s report was published in early May.

The dismissal ends the criminal investigation, though it does not preclude political scrutiny of the deputy’s conduct.