Trial Begins in Paris Over 'Masonic Mafia' Case Involving 22 Suspects

On March 30, 2023, a significant trial commenced in Paris, France, concerning a case dubbed the 'Masonic Mafia.' This trial involves 22 suspects, including several members of the Masonic lodge 'Athanor,' located in the suburban area of Puteaux. This information was reported by journalist Anna Popova in a piece for BBC News Ukraine.

It is noteworthy that the investigation into the Masons was entirely accidental, and the entire saga began on July 24, 2020. On that day, a resident of the Paris suburb of Créteil, while taking his daughter to kindergarten, noticed a suspicious vehicle. Inside the car were two men who appeared to be sleeping, wearing gloves despite the heat. The young father called the police, which marked the beginning of the investigation.

Upon arriving at the scene, the police immediately arrested the suspects. It turned out that the vehicle had a forged license plate affixed over the original, and the car had been stolen back in September 2019. Inside the vehicle, the police discovered tracking devices, a 9mm caliber pistol, and other suspicious items.

One of the arrested individuals, 28-year-old Pierre Bourden, claimed that he and his accomplice were employees of the French external intelligence service (DGSE) with code names 'Dagomar' and 'Adelard,' allegedly carrying out a state mission. They were tasked with 'eliminating' Marie-Hélène Dini, who was suspected of covert collaboration with the Israeli intelligence agency 'Mossad.'

The 60-year-old Dini, a mother of two and an entrepreneur providing coaching services, was shocked when law enforcement officials approached her and informed her of the plot against her life. She assured them that she had never had any connection with 'Mossad' and had never even visited Israel. 'I felt as if I were in Russia. It was as if I had unwittingly stumbled into some mafia-like story,' Dini shared her feelings in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde.

However, another aspect of Bourden's story turned out to be true. The General Directorate for External Security (DGSE) confirmed that he and his accomplice, 25-year-old Karl Eno, who had the code name 'Abelard,' indeed served in this organization. However, they were assigned to guard a military base in the commune of Cercot, where spies and secret agents are trained, and they had never been entrusted with any secret missions, especially those that fell outside the DGSE's jurisdiction, such as assassination on French soil.

Pierre Bourden, known as 'Dagomar,' voluntarily joined the DGSE in 2014. In the initial years, he was regarded as a diligent employee, but over time he became disillusioned due to a lack of career prospects. 'You stare at monitors for 12 hours, with no phone, no book, doing nothing all week, without weekends, like a complete idiot,' Bourden described his work at the base.

It is known that Bourden failed the officer exam twice and was denied an internal transfer. Colleagues described him as a pathological liar. In 2018, he met Yannick Fam, a DGSE reservist and agent of the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI), who offered Bourden the chance to carry out secret missions, supposedly within the framework of work for a secret department of the DGSE.

The investigation revealed that Fam connected Bourden with private security guard Sébastien Leroux. On July 26, 2020, law enforcement arrested Leroux, who had given Bourden the task to 'eliminate' Marie-Hélène Dini, allegedly on behalf of the DGSE. Leroux promised to pay the men €30,000 for the murder. It is known that in 2019, Dini was attacked: unknown assailants beat her and stole her computer. Bourden claimed that Leroux admitted to being behind that attack.

It turned out that Sébastien Leroux worked for Daniel Bollé, a former DGSE officer and member of the Masonic lodge 'Athanor.' Three members of this lodge found themselves in the dock: Jean-Luc Bagur, Frédéric Vallot, and Daniel Bollé. The 'Athanor' lodge was founded in 2008 and consists of about 20 members who adhere to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

Bagur, who held a high degree in the lodge, approached Vallot, a former journalist and owner of several security businesses, with a request to eliminate Marie-Hélène Dini. The reason was not the alleged collaboration of the woman with 'Mossad,' but rather a conflict of business interests: Dini's coaching business competed with Bagur's business. For the murder, Bagur paid Vallot €70,000.

Vallot assigned the task to Daniel Bollé, who, in turn, hired Leroux. Bollé told Leroux that this was an unofficial intelligence mission and that Dini was an Israeli spy. 'The story about 'Mossad' was fabricated to motivate Leroux and make him think it was a state order,' Bollé later confessed. The former policeman and retired DGSI officer Bollé was arrested on January 21, 2021.