Benzema pleads ‘misunderstanding’in sextape blackmail case

PARIS: Karim Benzema says his go-between role in the Mathieu Valbuena sextape blackmail case has been misunderstood as the Real Madrid striker prepares to explain himself on French TV on Wednesday.
The pre-recorded interview comes after French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday suggested only players with exemplary records should represent France at Euro 2016.
“I hope it all turns out well for all of us, for Mattieu, myself and my mate (a childhood friend of Benzema’s also arrested in the case),” Benzema told TF1 in extracts broadcast by the LCI news channel.
“I hope we get back in the France team and that we win the Euro,” he insisted.
The 27-year-old has been charged with complicity to blackmail and conspiring to commit a criminal act by the prosecutor’s office in Versailles, charges that carry a maximum five years prison sentence.
“It’s all a huge misunderstanding,” Benzema told a judge last month, according to an article in Le Monde.
“All I was doing was trying to help. There’s nothing to any of it, no blackmail or demands for money.”
The scandal is a serious distraction to France before they host Euro 2016 — Benzema is forbidden to have any contact with Valbuena, 31, and neither was called up for France’s recent friendlies against Germany and England.
In sporting terms Benzema is seen as France’s top striker, but Les Bleus have a wealth of other attacking options and a record of leaving trouble-makers out of squads for international tournaments.
The blackmail case began in June, when Valbuena lodged a complaint with police after being telephoned by a man who said he had the sex tape.