The case involves Theo’s brother, 34-year-old Mickael Luhaka.
Luhaka was arrested in the Parisian suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois on Tuesday along with Theo and two other brothers at the same address. The brothers were arrested under suspicion of “organised fraud, breach of trust, and money laundering”, Le Parisien reported.
Luhaka, 34, had been summoned last March by the judicial police of Seine-Saint-Denis but had not ignored the summons. This time, the court chose to go and pick him up at his parents’ home together with Theo.
They were arrested on Tuesday morning around six o’clock and placed in police custody. A sixth person was also placed in police custody. A preliminary inquiry had been opened in June 2016, several months before the arrest of Theo.
Three associations connected to Luhaka have received hundreds of thousands of euros from the French government for subsidised employment contracts. It is alleged that those hired were never paid by the associations and that the money went to relatives of the 34-year-old instead.
From January 2014 until June 2016 one association alone, the Aulnay Events association, received €678,000 from the government. Theo is alleged to have received €52,000 of that sum.
Antoine Vey, Theo’s lawyer, complained that the arrest would “tarnish Theo’s image”. He said he was concerned that being in jail could impact Theo’s health.
Theo became a celebrity in France last year following an incident in which he was arrested and claimed that a police officer had penetrated his rectum with a baton. His arrest sparked massive riots across migrant-populated areas in Paris for almost two weeks.
CCTV footage however contradicted Theo’s story as well as a report from experts who showed that the officer could not purposely have targetted Theo’s rectum.