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AL-HILLI

Swiss freeze money of Alp shooting victims

Swiss authorities have seized money in a Geneva bank account linked to a British couple of Iraqi origin killed last month in the French Alps, a Swiss daily reported on Friday.

Saad al-Hilli, who was shot dead in his car last month along with his wife, her mother, and a passing French cyclist, is believed to have gone to Geneva shortly before the massacre, the Tribune de Geneve daily reported in its online edition.

The paper said it had obtained information that Hilli's trip to Geneva, "as well as the seized money are linked to the murders."

On September 5th, 50-year-old Hilli, his 47-year-old wife Iqbal and her 74-year-old mother Suhaila al-Allaf, who held a Swedish passport, were shot dead in a forest car park near the village of Chevaline, not far from Annecy, where they were vacationing.

Frenchman Sylvain Mollier, a passing cyclist, was also shot and killed, while the couple's two young daughters survived the attack, although the elder girl was seriously injured.

Swiss public broadcaster RTS meanwhile reported on Friday that the bank account seized in Geneva had belonged to Hilli's recently deceased father and that it contained "well under" the six million francs (five million euros) evoked by British media.

Investigators have, among other leads, looked into a possible falling-out between Hilli and his brother, living in Britain, over the inheritance from their father, who recently died in Spain.

Hilli's father left behind an estate and cash worth millions of euros, according to British media reports.

Geneva prosecutor Dario Zanni is meanwhile taking part in the investigation following a request from French authorities, his office told AFP Friday, refusing to divulge further information.

In addition to the reported Swiss bank account link to the crime, French investigators have said they were looking into whether the killer may have fled across the nearby Swiss border after the murders.

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ANNECY

Alps murders: Ex-soldier emerges as chief suspect

A new book about the brutal 2012 murders of a British-Iraqi family and a French cyclist in the Alps has revealed that a former soldier in the French Foreign Legion has been identified as the number one suspect.

Alps murders: Ex-soldier emerges as chief suspect
French prosecutor Eric Maillaud speaking to reporters shortly after the murders. Photo: AFP

French State Prosecutor Eric Maillaud said ex-legionnaire Patrice Menegaldo is the chief suspect in the ongoing investigation into the shooting of Saad al-Hilli, his wife Iqbal, mother-in-law Suhaila and French cyclist Sylvain Mollier.

Menegaldo killed himself last June after being interviewed as a witness to the crime, but not as a suspect.

Police say his profile matches that of the professional hitman, capable of planning and carrying out the cold blooded killings near Annecy, that they believe was behind the murders.

The victims were shot at point blank range on a road near the village of Chevaline in September 2012. The bodies of the al-Hilli family were found in their car, whilst that of the cyclist Mollier was found nearby.

Al-Hilli’s two young daughters narrowly survived.

Prosecutor Maillaud and a team of detectives have been hunting the killer but the probe has so-far failed to find anyone.

Suspicion fell on al-Hilli’s older brother Zaid, who had fought with Saad over their father’s inheritance, as well as on a mystery biker seen neat the scene at the time, but no charges were ever brought.

In an interview for the new book called The Perfect Crime, written by the Daily Mirror newspaper prosecutor Maillaud, revealed that the suspect Menegaldo was acquainted with the French cyclist’s partner.  

Both he and Mollier were from the nearby town of Ugine.

The hypothesis at the top of the chain for investigators is a local killing. We have a real suspect. I am referring to the Legionnaire from Ugine,” he said. “Here is a middle-aged man who kills himself and to explain this leaves a letter saying he couldn’t handle being considered a suspect.”

“We are talking about a hardened ex-soldier, someone using a gun, suddenly saying he couldn’t deal with being thought of as a suspect. The investigators are still digging into this man. He had psychological problems.

“Could it, by chance, have been him? Did he regret his actions afterwards and take his own life? Otherwise it is an inexplicable suicide. He had the technical capacity to do what was done that day.”

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