7/7/2025–|Last update: 18:25 (Mecca time)
Since 2021, a French judicial investigation has been investigating exciting intersections between commercial and technical interests and personal relationships related to the former president Francois HollandWhich restores the controversy surrounding the fighter sale deal.RafaFrench India in 2016.
In an article in the French newspaper “Mediabart”, Karl Laski reviews the details of the financing of one of the films that the actress and producer Jolie Gaye (Holland’s wife) was produced by Indian businessman Anil Ambani, the main industrial partner in the “Rafale” deal.
The writer says that the ongoing judicial investigation into the financing of Ambani (Indian partner of Daso) is a language film that puts Holland and his wife under increasing pressure, which opens the door to ask whether the former French president will be interrogated by the anti -corruption police.
Holland has a presidential immunity in accordance with Article 67 of the Constitution, which states that the president does not hold accountable for the actions he had during his term, unless he is brought to trial before International Criminal Court Or the Supreme Court. However, this does not prevent his summons, as happened with Nicola Sarkozy Which was called at the threat of a briefing order in the trial of the Elysee polls on November 20, 2021.
Before the start of the judicial investigation, which was opened in 2021, against the backdrop of a complaint filed by a non -governmental organization called “Sherba” as a civilian party, Francois Hollande said he had previously made his statements regarding this case.
The writer explained that since then, the data collected by the Central Anti -Corruption and Financial and Tax Crime Authority between 2023 and 2024 have weakened Holland’s position, which returned to become a deputy in Parliament in 2024.
The Liberation newspaper revealed that Holland’s wife (actress and producer Jolie Gaye) was interrogated by the same body in the context of the investigation of the cinema sector in the case, on the 16th and 31 October 2024, as a “subject of free interrogation”.
Gay’s involvement in the crimes of influence exploiting and whitening corruption is suspected of receiving 1.65 million euros ($ 1.94 million) to participate in the production of a film, and was presented by the head of the “Ryleins” group, Anil Ambani, who was concluded at the time – as an Indian partner of the Daso Company – the contract of selling Rafale aircraft within a government agreement between France and India.
In September 2018, in a question from the “Mediabart” website about this strange coincidence, Holland confirmed that he was “not aware of” the partnership of his wife’s institution with the Ambani Group, and that his knowledge of him was limited to his participation in the Rafale aircraft deal.
“The Indian government has proposed the Ryleins Services Group, and Daso is the one that negotiated with Ambani. We had no choice but to accept the party that was presented to us. For this reason, this group is not entitled to provide me with any known of any kind. I could not even imagine any link with a film of Julie Gaye.”
A pole that develops his networks
The writer pointed out that despite this, the sequence of events in the case is not in the interest of Hollande and his wife, as the Indian businessman and the film sponsor, for nearly a year, maintained his relationships with the producer on the one hand, and with her former president on the other hand.
Gaye met with businessman Ambani at the Bristol Hotel on April 26, 2016, before organizing a dinner in the Elysee in the presence of Holland on June 12, 2016.
Gaye claims – despite all the evidence – that Holland did not recognize the businessman, and did not know as his capacity. Then, in an official framework, Francois Holland again met Anil Ambani at the Elysee Palace in February 2017.
According to the investigation data, the suspicions against its goal also expose Hollande accountable.
The writer excludes the lack of knowledge of the then French President and his official agency with two years: the first, a statement issued by Ryleins on January 24, 2016, during which he announced a partnership with the Julie Gaye Foundation, coinciding with the arrival of the French President to New Delhi on a 3 -day official visit. The second, an article published by “Intelligence Online” in November 2016, entitled “The partner of the Rafale deal in Delhi”, revealing that “Relains” will fund the next films of Gaye.
The name “Relains” was mentioned in the agenda of Gaye since November 2015, two years before the film was released, and Gaye admits that from the beginning he knew that she was the wife of the President of the Republic. “I can assure you that shortly after I communicated with Ryleins on the topic of the film, one of the prominent investors in Relains was aware of the identity of Gaye.”
“Dinner with Anil”
The writer stated that during the investigations, the investigator asked a question about the reason for the joining of Indian businessman Anil Ambani on June 12, 2016 to the producer, Julie Gaye, and French President Francois Hollande at a dinner table at the Elysee Palace.
In response, Gaye said, “This was a dinner held in the apartments of the Elysee Palace, in the presence of Ambani and his son, along with close friends who speak English.”
She added: “If I had invited Ambani, it is because I often do so with the work teams participating in my films, but on this occasion the dinner was in the Elysee, in the private wing, because I was staying there.” She pointed out that the aim of dinner was “creating a warm and friendly atmosphere.”
In her interrogation, about the reason why President Hollande did not ask about the presence of Mr. Ambani, especially since this character accompanied the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi During an official visit to France in 2015, Gaye said: “I think he did not get to know him and did not link the two, because he was associated with me and my cinematic project.”
During a new hearing after 15 days, Gaye explained that the issue of financing the film was not presented during that dinner.
During her demand to explain the reason why the President of the Republic accepts dinner in his own apartment with a person who was not subject to any scrutiny by the Elysee bodies – although Holland was known to his proximity to former Finance Minister Michel Sabine, who during his mandate issued the “Sabine 2” law related to transparency, fighting corruption and modernizing economic life – Gaye replied: “I cannot speak in his name. The private was announced by the President of the Republic, to be included in the schedule of his dates.
During the search of a Gaye phone, the investigators noticed that it was registered in its schedule of “dinner with Anil” on June 16, 2016. It also turned out that it maintains the numbers of the businessman, son, president of Ryleins II and the French banking mediator. They pointed to the continuation of these relations by exchanging friendly text messages between 2020 and 2023.
Despite this, Gaye denied a personal relationship that has a relationship with Ambani, saying: “He used to send me congratulations for several years on the occasion of the arrival of the New Year as a result of our good relationship after our meeting.” Ryleins has transferred funds to the executive production accounts of the film in March 2018, 3 months after it was shown in the cinema halls.
Real panic
The writer indicated that in the context of her defense, Gaye was keen to disavow the film, production processes, and even directing. According to the statements of director Serge Hzanafazis, the film was a project that was supervised by the producer since its inception. Two financiers from Luxembourg, Friedrich and Michael Reichling, continued with his 2011 to “develop a joint venture with how Adams”.
According to the writer, despite the appearance of the name of Ryleins in the list of producers, the investment company “Fesfires Capital” played the role of mediator between Ryleins and the executive production, as the money was transferred through a complex financial order.
The writer concluded his report by noting that in September 2018, Gaye confirmed to Mediapart that “My Family” company was the one that asked Ryleins, through its partner “Fisfires”, to participate in financing. She explained that “Ryleins investing in the film by 10% of the budget came on the initiative of May Family only, and with conditions similar to the rest of the investors.”