Paul Pogba claims to have wanted to find a “relationship of brothers”, his eldest Mathias threatens to “bury” him: the investigations into kidnapping and extortion by an organized gang of the world champion have revealed fraternal connections undermined by the lure of gain.
3 mins
At the beginning, supporting his childhood friends or old acquaintances from the neighborhood “pleased” Paul Pogba, assured the world champion during his hearing as a civil party before the investigating judge in October 2022. The six men, suspected of being involved in his confinement on March 20, 2022 and having sought to extort 13 million euros from him, have the common point of having all been financially helped by Paul Pogba. And that before this night of confinement.
His older brother, Mathias, seemed to be the most pushy, according to Paul’s account. On a regular basis, he asked me again, asked me again », Says the footballer. “ I put an end to all that in 2021 “. “I wanted us to resume a relationship as brothers and not a financial relationship.”
Paul also describes to the magistrate a childhood relatively isolated from his elders, twins, Florentin and Mathias. “ I had my friends, they were together “, he summarizes.
As adults, even if Mathias, also a footballer, “was always behind me”, Paul notes a distance “ from 2017 “. “ The relationship became more financial. I no longer went to see him at his club, nor him at mine. Our relationship was more about him asking me for services for his foundation, jerseys, that kind of thing. “.
Questioned by the investigators, Florentin explained for his part that Paul had already “ repaired ” but ” did not finance their everyday life » and had “ had to help out Mathias, but not regularly “.
Thirteen million euros claimed
Mathias Pogba was absent during Paul’s confinement, who did not say a word to him. He claims to have been informed of this in July 2022 by Roushdane K., one of the main suspects and “ big brother » from the neighborhood where the Pogba grew up, who is alarmed at not having any news from Paul Pogba, claiming to be in danger, because the footballer does not pay the robbers. From then on, Mathias tried several times to talk about it with his brother. Investigators accuse him of having provided “very active assistance” to put pressure on Paul.
He is notably accused of being at the initiative of the “commando” who sought to see Paul Pogba at his training center in Turin, Italy, in mid-July. Or even having gone to their mother’s home on July 31, accompanied in particular by Roushdane K., who was “threatening” according to the hearing of the latter, Yeo Moriba before the investigating judge. But for Mathias, the objective was just to inform his mother of the risks involved, he assures.
“Totally scared”
Mathias defends himself by explaining that he feared for his life, claiming to have been robbed himself at the end of July 2022 by people mentioning his brother. “ At that moment I felt totally panicked, scared », Faced with the absence of news from Paul, he assures.
“ Either (Paul) changes “, ” apologizes in front of everyone, either I’ll ruin him, I’ll bury him », he gets carried away in a telephone exchange with his partner on August 25, 2022, intercepted by the police. “ I’m afraid you’ll come across as the bad guy, your brother is so adored “, she replies. For the investigators, Mathias Pogba shows “his criminal intentions” and the “ desire to harm » to his brother.
Two days after this call, Mathias promises “revelations” about Paul in a video on social networks. Questioned by the investigating judge in September 2022, Mathias limited his comments to “his way of speaking”, claiming to have “felt ignored” by his brother.
Paul Pogba analyzes: “ I think Mathias wants money, that’s all “.
(With AFP)