On Monday, two French journalists were put on trial in France for allegedly attempting to extort money from the king of Morocco in exchange for withholding information that was reportedly damaging to him. In 2015, it was claimed that Catherine Graciet, 48, and Eric Laurent, 75, wanted $2 million to halt the publication of a book on the Moroccan royal family.
Both authors have denied any involvement and assert that a lawyer representing the Moroccan royal family was the one who first offered them the money. If found guilty, they face a five-year prison term and a 75,000 euro fine.
In court on Monday, Laurent admitted it was both a ‘ethical blunder’ and a ‘disaster’ to accept to ‘let myself be caught up in this affair.’
Co-author Graciet said that the Moroccan envoy ‘seduced me with his financial offer, I took the plunge and I regret it.’
In 2012, the authors had already released ‘The Predator King,’ a book about King Mohammed VI that was strongly criticised and later outlawed in Morocco.
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