Telegram founder Pavel Durov is under formal investigation and will not be allowed to leave France, a French prosecutor said in a statement released Wednesday night.

The Russian-born billionaire is being investigated for several suspected offenses related to criminal activity on the platform, including complicity in illegal gang transactions, “laundering of crimes in an organized gang,” and refusal to communicate information to authorities, according to the French prosecutor’s statement.

He must remain in the country under judicial supervision, with a bail set at $5.56 million (5 million euros), and is required to report to the French police station twice a week.

Durov was released from police custody in France earlier in the day and transferred to court for questioning, prosecutors told CNN, days after his dramatic arrest at a Paris airport.

The formal investigation announced Wednesday evening does not imply guilt in the French legal system, but indicates that prosecutors believe there is enough of a case to merit a serious official investigation. He has not yet been formally charged.

Wednesday’s prosecutor’s office statement added that the French National Office for Minors has reported to the prosecutor’s office the “near absence of response” from Telegram to court requests concerning offenses that include trafficking, online hate speech, and pedophilia crimes.

The suspected acts being probed include “complicity in the administration of a platform enabling an illegal transaction in an organized gang,” an offense that can carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Durov, 39, was detained at Paris’s Bourget Airport on Saturday on a warrant related to Telegram’s lack of moderation. He was being investigated on charges relating to a host of crimes, including allegations that his platform was complicit in aiding fraudsters, drug traffickers and people spreading child pornography.

Telegram, and its lack of content moderation, has also come under scrutiny for its use by terrorist groups and far-right extremists.

He was placed in custody for up to 96 hours, the maximum amount of time someone can be held under French law before being charged.

Durov’s arrest started a row over freedom of speech, and caused particular concerns in both Ukraine and Russia, where it is extremely popular and has become a key communication tool among military personnel and citizens during Moscow’s war on its neighbor.

Russia criticized Paris on Wednesday for its detention of Durov. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, “It seems to me that all this has once again demonstrated the true attitude of the French leadership, which has blatantly trampled on international norms in the field of protecting freedom of speech and expression, for only one reason - because if they protect certain standards, they must not only comply with them, they must protect and implement them.”

The Kremlin has sought to calm fears in Russia about the future of the app, with Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov attempting to dispel calls for users to delete their sensitive messages on the app.
‘No way political’

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said the decision to bring charges against Durov was “in no way political,” a rare intervention by a French leader into a judicial matter.

Telegram was launched in 2013 by Durov and his brother, Nikolai. The app now has more than 950 million users, according to a post from Durov last month, making it one of the most widely used messaging platforms in the world.

Conversations on the app are encrypted, meaning that law enforcement agencies – and Telegram itself – have little oversight on what users post.
Durov was born in the Soviet Union in 1984, and in his 20s became colloquially known as the “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia.” He left the country in 2014 and now lives in Dubai, where Telegram is headquartered, while also holding French citizenship.

He is worth an estimated $9.15 billion, according to Bloomberg, and has maintained a lavish, globe-trotting lifestyle over the past decade.

But while his app has won plaudits from free speech groups and enabled private communication in countries with restrictive regimes, critics say it has become a safe haven for people coordinating illicit activities - including the terrorists who planned the Paris terror attacks in November 2015.

“You cannot make it safe against criminals and open for governments,” Durov told CNN in 2016. “It’s either secure or not secure.”

Source: Reuters
--Agencies