Thursday 5 November 2015 20:25, UK
Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has been placed under formal investigation in France in connection with an inquiry into an alleged attempt to blackmail fellow France international Mathieu Valbuena.
Benzema arrived at a police station near Paris early on Wednesday for questioning and remained in custody overnight before attending a hearing on Thursday morning.
A statement from the Versailles prosecutor said the alleged crimes for which he was being investigated - complicity in attempted blackmail and participation in a criminal conspiracy - could carry a prison sentence of at least five years.
His lawyer, Sylvain Cormier, told reporters after the hearing that Benzema, who has been freed pending further investigation, was innocent.
"He played no part, I repeat no part, in any blackmail or attempted blackmail," said Cormier.
Cormier added that the key part of the investigation was a conversation in which Benzema offered Valbuena a bit of friendly "judicious advice" and what was said had nothing to do with blackmail.
Real Madrid later revealed Benzema had trained on his own after returning to Spain, jogging around their training pitch and exercising with and without a ball - he has been sidelined for a month with a hamstring injury.
The prosecutor's move, which in France's justice system does not confirm any wrongdoing but does mean investigators have serious grounds for pursuing the matter with him before a judge determines whether there is sufficient evidence for him to be charged, exposes Benzema to a lengthy period of doubt ahead of Euro 2016 in France next summer.
Investigators, who among several others questioned former Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse in the same case in mid-October without subsequently placing him under formal investigation, are trying to identify who was behind the alleged extortion attempt.
Three other men have also been placed under investigation and another person close to Benzema is being questioned by a judge, a source close to the inquiry said.
The affair involved phone-recorded sex footage that could prove embarrassing for Valbuena, according to sources, while Benzema's name came up during phone taps in relation to the inquiry opened last July, police sources say.
The prosecutor also banned Benzema from contacting others linked to the affair.
Valbuena, 31, currently plays for Lyon and was in the same France squad as Benzema at the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, but the investigation has caused problems for coach Didier Deschamps, who has left both out of his squad for the forthcoming friendlies against Germany and England this month.
Deschamps said Benzema was in any case injured of late and that Valbuena would be shaken by the whole affair, adding: "I've decided to give him a breather for the two dates."
However, he refused to be drawn on the long-term implications.
"I suppose you have a lot of questions not related to football, I will not answer them," he told a news conference.
