GEORGE TOWN – Malaysia should no longer be held responsible for controversial Frenchman Rémy Daillet-Wiedemann, his pregnant companion and their three children, as all five have been deported last Sunday, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin.
He said their case is now under the purview of France, their home country.
The Vibes had yesterday reported that Daillet-Wiedemann, his live-in companion Leonie Bardet de Lestang and the children, aged 17, 9 and 2, failed to board an Air France flight bound for Paris on Sunday.
The flight departed at about 10.30pm from the Singapore Changi Airport.
The couple’s lawyers were informed that Bardet had earlier fell ill and was hospitalised in the republic as a precaution since she is six-months pregnant.
Hamzah confirmed that the family were deported for overstaying in Malaysia.
Interpol had issued an international arrest warrant for Daillet-Wiedemann, who was accused by a French magistrate of influencing the suspects in the kidnapping of an 8-year-old girl, identified as Mia, from her grandmother’s home last April.
Mia was subsequently rescued by French and Swiss authorities at a house at Switzerland.
It now remains to be seen what will unfold next, as the French Embassy in Kuala Lumpur is keeping mum about the repatriation of Daillet-Wiedemann, who had been illegally living in Langkawi for the past six years under a self-imposed exile.
Daillet-Wiedemann and the children are likely confined to the transit area in Changi Airport while Bardet is in hospital.
The Frenchman is said to have been propagating far-right ideologies, with some reports claiming he supported the beliefs of American conspiracist QAnon.
During his stay in Langkawi, the 55-year-old made friends with expatriates and locals alike, keeping his conspiracy theories to himself or posting them on social media platforms.
He had planned to settle down on the island as he had invested in a recycling plant there.
A Langkawi police source confirmed that the French couple’s belongings, including their personal computers, remain locked up in their rented home at Chogm Villa in Kuah, the main town on the island.
However, they were arrested at another condominium in Laguna Merbok. – The Vibes, June 15, 2021
Additional reporting by Ian McIntyre
