Watan-The judiciary in both France and Switzerland has launched investigations against the intelligence company “Alp Services,” which conducted intelligence and espionage operations in Europe on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.
Media outlets including Agence France-Presse, Mediapart, Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), and the French website Le Soir reported that French and Swiss prosecutors have opened three criminal investigations targeting the intelligence agency “Alp Services” in Geneva.
The company is suspected of carrying out secret operations in Europe for the Emirati intelligence agency, while the judicial investigations focus on charges of “unlawful surveillance,” “espionage on behalf of a foreign state,” “defamation,” and “money laundering.”
“Alp Services” and Espionage for the UAE
According to reports by The Atlas News, the investigations are based on leaked documents published between March and July 2023 under the name “Abu Dhabi Secrets,” in collaboration with the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC), based on thousands of documents leaked from “Alp Services.”
The documents reveal that, in exchange for a sum of no less than 5.7 million euros, the Swiss agency used all its capabilities to harm the enemies of the UAE, namely Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood, and targeted the Élysée Palace (the French presidential residence) and the European Union.
The Swiss agency conducted influence operations and reputation-smearing campaigns through fake articles and manipulation of some media outlets, as the Swiss agency possesses a network of mercenary journalists.
The judicial investigations specifically target the CEO of “Alp Services,” Mario Brero (77 years old), who was convicted in France for suspicious activities related to the “Areva” case, where he collaborated with Alexandre Benalla, former advisor to Emmanuel Macron.
According to leaked information, the Paris Prosecutor’s Office opened a preliminary investigation targeting “Alp” in the fall of 2023, and the “Personal Crime Fighting Unit” of the Paris Judicial Police was assigned to it based on a complaint filed by Rokhaya Diallo regarding the “unlawful collection, processing, and disclosure of her personal data.”
Diallo, a journalist, writer, and feminist director known for her anti-racism stance, is one of the victims of the extensive and unlawful espionage operation we uncovered in our investigation.
“Alp” provided names of over a thousand Europeans allegedly linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, including over 200 living in France, accused by “Alp” of forming a “continental criminal network,” including Diallo herself.
Many of those mentioned in the “Alp” list have no connection to the Muslim Brotherhood, such as former socialist presidential candidate Benoît Hamon, Marseille deputy mayor and former senator Samia Ghali, journalist and activist Taha Bouhafs, and one of the “accused” journalists at Mediapart. This exacerbates the problem, especially since the Muslim Brotherhood is classified as a terrorist organization by the UAE.
By misleadingly linking Diallo to the Muslim Brotherhood, “Alp” caused “damage to her reputation and encouraged harassment and persecution against her,” according to her lawyer, Vincent Brenigault.
Mediapart and its affected journalists filed a complaint on January 15th of last year with the Paris Prosecutor’s Office containing the same accusations made by Diallo.
Karen Futo, editor-in-chief of Mediapart, said: “One of our journalists was falsely described as a spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood by Alp Services, and this information was handed over to the Emirati intelligence agency. This espionage causes unjustified harm to their safety and reputation, as well as to the reputation of the newspaper.”
To support the complaint filed by Mediapart, the journalistic website provided an internal document from “Alp Services” listing the names of French citizens handed over to the UAE, along with a picture proving that “Alp” provided similar graphics to their Emirati counterpart, Sheikh Maktoum.
Investigators from the Personal Crime Fighting Unit in Paris have contacted Mediapart, but no one from the organization has been summoned so far.
Karen Futo stated, “We are, in principle, ready to cooperate with justice to contribute to revealing the truth and to avoid such events from recurring in any country.”
This judicial investigation is highly sensitive due to the distinguished political and economic relations between Paris and Abu Dhabi, which have been strengthened through arms sales and a shared desire to combat Islamism.
Macron and Mohammed bin Zayed
French President Emmanuel Macron maintains a close personal relationship with his Emirati counterpart, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
One of the victims of “Alp,” Sihem Souid, the Qatar spokesperson in France and Belgium, faced significant difficulties in filing her complaint with the judiciary.
Mediapart and The New Yorker revealed that “Alp” surveilled and took pictures of her house during that period, then targeted her during an operation called “Stars of the Sky,” designed to tarnish Qatar’s network image in Brussels.
Souid filed a complaint with the Paris Prosecutor’s Office on March 30, 2023, but her complaint was classified as “without further action” after just 13 days, on the grounds that “the evidence is insufficient to constitute a crime,” and the Paris Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to our inquiries.
Afterwards, Souid filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Créteil (Val-de-Marne) on April 25th, without success, despite her two attempts. On October 2nd, she filed a second complaint with a civil suit to obtain permission to initiate a judicial investigation, and an independent investigating judge was assigned to it.
Only after these steps did the Prosecutor initiate a preliminary investigation on October 30, 2023, into the crimes of “violation of domicile,” “theft,” and “interference with privacy or obstruction of correspondence,” according to the Créteil Public Prosecutor’s Office to Mediapart.
Mario Brero is also under investigation in his country. On December 5, 2023, the Swiss Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPC) and the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office initiated one investigation and several judicial proceedings against Brero that are still ongoing, based on the “Abu Dhabi Secrets” investigation.
“Alp Services,” Mario Brero, and his partner Muriel Caven are suspected of committing six crimes, according to a judicial document obtained by Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS).
The first wave of judicial investigations against “Alp” and its owner involves charges of espionage, unlawful activities for a foreign state, and defamation, based on three complaints. One of them was filed by Belgian Environment Minister Zakia Khattabi, a member of the Green Party, who was wrongly described as close to the Muslim Brotherhood in the context of the investigation also underway in Paris.
Tariq Ramadan’s Defamation
The second complainant, Islamic researcher Tariq Ramadan (who is also facing charges of rape and sexual assault), did not wish to provide details about the actions he accuses “Alp Services” of. As for the third complaint, it is unknown who filed it.
The Swiss Foreign Ministry filed a complaint against “Alp” with the Public Prosecutor’s Office for “violation of the obligation to declare activity”; Swiss law requires private intelligence agencies to inform authorities if they are working for a foreign state, which “Alp” did not do.
Direct prosecution by the MPC against “Alp” also includes “money laundering,” as a result of a report from the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS), the Swiss equivalent of Tracfin.
Emirati Research Center called “Ariaf”
Investigations revealed that “Alp Services” paid its employees from an Emirati research center called “Ariaf,” which served as a cover for clandestine services. Mario Brero and Muriel Caven in Geneva worked under a fictitious employment contract with “Ariaf” in Abu Dhabi, being “archived.”
“Alp” and its managers face a third legal front in the United States. In late March, political scientist Farid Hafez filed a complaint in Washington specifically targeting “Alp” and the academic Lorenzo Vidino, an expert in extremism and a professor at George Washington University.
Hafez is one of the victims of Operation “Luxor,” a massive operation carried out by the Austrian government in November 2020, where thirty people were searched, arrested, and accused of links to terrorism and extremism.
However, no charges were brought against any of the suspects, and the operation was deemed unlawful in 2021. After this shock, Hafez left Austria to live in the United States.
It is known that Operation “Luxor” was partially based on a report prepared by academic Lorenzo Vidino, who received financial payments from “Alp Services” as part of his mission for the UAE.