Monaco’s ex-police chief ‘killed’ by Malta-registered boat

What appears to be an accidental death of Monaco’s former police chief is however embroidered in mystery as investigators treat his death as ‘suspicious’.

The death of former Monaco police chief André Muhlberger has raised suspicions of murder.
The death of former Monaco police chief André Muhlberger has raised suspicions of murder.

Monaco's ex-police chief, André Muhlberger, was found floating dead at Cap d'Ail in the south of France late last month, and is thought to have been killed by a boat's propeller.

The Sunday Times of London reports that Muhlberger, 50 and known for his investigative work in dismantling an international gang of diamond thieves named the Pink Panthers, was swimming towards the Joyka yacht - registered in Malta - to meet his Russian friends.

Investigators have already examined propellers of other boats and, according to The Sunday Times, found nothing. What was also believed to be a suspicious motorboat which sped by at the time of the incident was also investigated but nothing was found either.

The Monaco Matin, a local French daily, also went with the angle that Muhlberger's death could have been a tragic accident.

The former police chief died after a boat's propeller is believed to have slashed the back of his head and almost severed one of his legs.

However, given Muhlberger's past work and his reported affair with the former wife of a Russian oligarch, have given rise to suspicions that his death was no accident.

The Sunday Times of London reports that Muhlberger resigned last year from his job as chief, citing personal reasons. While living with a French magistrate, he was reported to having an affair with a 33-year-old blonde from Belarus.

Following his successful work on the Pink Panther case in 2007, Muhlberger was accused of turning a blind eye to Russian oligarchs using Monaco as a money laundering centre.