French employee suspected of spying for Algeria

French Prosecutors have placed an employee of the Ministry of Finance under formal investigation under suspicion of espionage for Algeria, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Thursday, at a time of growing political tensions between France and his former colony.

The employee is accused of delivering details about the applicants of Algerian Asylum, including the known opponents of the holder Algerian Administration, to an Algerian contact that works at the Algerian consulate in the Cretteil suburb in Paris.

The employee was put in formal investigation in December. In France, formal investigation means that there is serious or consistent evidence that points to a probable participation of a suspect in a crime. It does not imply guilt, and does not necessarily lead to a trial.

The Creteil Consulate did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

The French Finance Ministry declined to comment. The Algerian embassy in Paris did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

The same investigation also led to placement under the formal investigation of a social worker in the French office of immigration and integration. The woman is accused of sharing the confidential details of asylum applicants and the violation of the rules on professional secrecy.

The immigration office said he could not comment on an ongoing investigation.

Relations with French Algusadores

The ties between Paris and Algiers have deteriorated in recent months after French president Emmanuel Macron recognized MoroccoSovereignty over the territory in dispute of the Western Sahara. That decision enraged Algiers.

As the diplomatic dispute has intensified, France threatened last month to review a decades agreement that facilitates Algerian citizens to move to France unless Algeria agrees to recover those who the French authorities want to deport.