Several investigations have been opened in France and Switzerland against the “king of detectives” for acts of espionage and the dissemination of false information. Mario Brero, a 77-year-old Genevan, and his private Swiss intelligence agency called “ALP Services”, allegedly had the mission of harming the interests of Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.
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At least three investigations, in France and Switzerland, target Mario Brero, boss of a Swiss investigation firm called ALP Services, accused to have spied various European personalities on behalf of the United Arab Emirates. A destabilization operation carried out through an agency specializing in international investigation. ALP Services is in fact suspected of having transmitted information to an UAE intelligence agent in exchange for six million euros.
Also on the menu of this deal concluded between Abu Dhabi and the director from the Swiss agencyMario Brero: the dissemination of information to harm the adversaries of the Emiratis, and the publication of false articles attacking Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood movement, considered terrorist by many countries.
The names of a thousand Europeans transmitted to Abu Dhabi
This affair began in 2023 when Mediapart published a series of articles, in partnership with the European consortium European Investigative Collaborations (EIC), accusing Mario Brero and ALP Services of working on behalf of Emirati intelligence. Between 2017 and 2020, the names of a thousand Europeans supposedly linked to the brotherhood were thus transmitted by ALP Services to UAE intelligence.
The private Swiss pharmacy would have notably sent, between 2017 and 2020 to Abu Dhabi, the names of a thousand Europeans and more than 400 organizations supposedly linked to the Muslim Brotherhood in 18 European countries. In Francemore than 200 people and 120 organizations were affected and were described, often wrongly, as Islamists close to the Muslim Brotherhood.
According to Mediapart and the EIC consortium, in France, this list would have notably contained the name of the former socialist presidential candidate, Benoît Hamon, and that of the author Rokhaya Diallo, who also filed a complaint in August 2023. Because the problem: many people have no connection with the Muslim Brotherhood and are therefore denouncing defamation. Currently, French justice is investigating the damage suffered by the people listed.
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