“Over the past weeks, individuals who are part of organised crime groups, have been stealing the identities of high-ranking personalities in the principality and trying to establish personal contact with them, through email, text or video-conferencing via a WhatsApp-type application,” the government said in a statement Friday.
The elaborate scheme uses signed official documents on official letterhead, with phone calls that can display the switchboard number of these institutions.
The set up, which targets “community leaders or people with responsibility”, uses the pretext of an urgent financial matter and asks for money to be transferred to foreign bank accounts, particularly in Asia.
Monaco-Matin additionally reports that a known journalist was contacted by a fake Prince Albert through WhatsApp and asked for money to help free a local journalist, supposedly kidnapped by an Islamist group.
Police have launched an investigation.
The Department of Public Security is calling for the utmost vigilance:
• be very cautious and sceptical about this kind of unusual communication;
• carry out direct and certain verification;
• contact the Judicial Police Division in case of such requests: +377 93 15 30 15 or pcto@gouv.mc.
Prince Albert’s eldest child, Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, has been in Monaco to prepare for the ladies’ car rally, the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles du Maroc, which she is undertaking with cousin Pauline Ducruet, the daughter of Princess Stephanie. The women-only 9-day off-road rally started from the Promenade des Anglais on Saturday, March 17.
The 26-year-old also helped Prince Albert celebrate his 60th birthday on March 14.
Jazmin is raising money for her own foundation, the Jazmin Fund, which she established in 2006 with the aim to build art-focused community centres in Fiji and help locals achieve a healthier lifestyle. Money generated by the rally helps to finance teams of doctors providing medical care in the remoter regions of southern Morocco.
Prior to setting out on the rally, Prince Albert’s daughter took the opportunity to promote her sponsors, including the skincare company the New York Dermatology Group.
Pauline Ducruet and Jazmin Grace Grimaldi. Photo: Instagram jazmingrimaldi
Photo: Instagram jazmingrimaldi
Jazmin Grace Grimaldi and Pauline Ducruet. Photo: Instagram jazmingrimaldi
Patrice Cellario Minister of the Interior, Anne-Marie Boisbouvier Counsellor at the Prince’s Cabinet, Simon Hankinson US Consul General in Marseille, Prince Albert, HE Jamie McCourt Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USA, Gilles Tonelli Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister for Public Works, the Environment and Urban Development. Photo: Manuel Vitali/DC
HE Jamie McCourt, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, presented her Letters of Credence to HSH the Sovereign Prince on Friday, March 16. She was then received for a lunch, presided over by Prince Albert, at the residence of the Minister of State.
Jamie D McCourt is a native of California and has been confirmed by the US Senate as the US Ambassador to the French Republic and the Principality of Monaco.
She is the founder and CEO of Jamie Enterprises and former co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Club. McCourt became the most senior woman in Major League Baseball, first serving as Vice-President of the Dodgers in 2004, then president in 2005, and finally chief executive officer in 2009.
The Ambassador has previously worked as a lawyer in international law and securities in New York, as well as corporate, real estate and family law in Boston. She then served for ten years as Vice-President and General Counsel of McCourt Co., the family-run real estate development company based in Boston.
Maryse Battaglia, Isabelle Contenseau-Realini and Virginie Cotta. Photo: Facebook Conseil National de Monaco
Leader of the National Council, President Stéphane Valeri, has announced a number of important appointments to strengthen the administrative teams working with the elected assembly.
In order to distinguish the political dimension from the administration, a Cabinet of the President of the National Council has been reconstituted.
According to announcements made in the official Journal de Monaco of March 12, Virginie Cotta will act as Chief of Staff. Ms Cotta, who holds a Doctor of Law, had been Director General of the Department of Social Affairs and Health since 2012. As Head of Cabinet, she will be in charge of coordinating project managers directly related to the President of the National Council, including the implementation of the political project of the majority.
Virginie Cotta. Photo: Facebook Conseil National de Monaco
Maryse Battaglia. Photo: Facebook Conseil National de Monaco
Isabelle Contenseau-Realini. Photo: Facebook Conseil National de Monaco
Maryse Battaglia also joins the President’s office and becomes a Social Affairs Officer. Ms Battaglia was Technical Advisor in the Department of Social Affairs and Health in charge of the Commission of Graduates Insertion.
Isabelle Contenseau-Realini, who has worked alongside Stéphane Valeri since 2003, both during his years at the National Council and when he became Minister of Social Affairs and Health, becomes Head of the Secretariat of the President.
Monaco’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Office is harmonising the format of licence plates for two-wheelers. For any new registration since March 1, the square format for motorcycles, tricycles, mopeds and quadricycles has been replaced by a rectangular plate.
The new format will also apply to two-wheelers that are already on the road. All owners of vehicles affected by this change, registered before March 1, 2018, have received a letter inviting them to replace their licence plate before August 31, 2018. More information: circulation@gouv.mc or see the government’s website for details about vehicle registration.
On Sunday, March 18, Stars’n’Bars will host an afternoon of family-friendly workshops, games and exhibitions on how Monaco residents can reduce their carbon footprints.
The EcoHub event, in partnership with the Mission for Energy Transition (MTE) in charge of the National Pact for Energy Transition, will be held in the StarDeck from 2 pm to 5 pm and is free and open to all nationalities and ages.
According to Stars’n’Bars co-founders Kate Powers and Didier Rubiolo, “If you live or work in Monaco, you know that Prince Albert has been a global leader in the fight to protect our planet and that the Principality has taken important steps to reduce its carbon footprint.
“These include creating eco-friendly methods of transportation, switching to renewable energy sources and managing waste, particularly plastics … but we need to do more!”
Since early 2016, Monaco’s government has been working with business leaders, educators, builders, energy suppliers and health and tourism organisations to create a national strategy to cut the Principality’s overall carbon footprint by 50 percent by 2030 and to be carbon neutral by 2050. This strategy targets Monaco’s main source of greenhouse gas emissions: transportation, waste treatment and energy use in buildings.
“That means that everyone must join in and double, triple and even quadruple efforts to be good eco-citizens,” say Kate and Didier. “To achieve these goals we must all act together to protect our environment, while improving our quality of life and preserving our health. This means adopting new habits, using clean energies and controlling our waste.”
To this end, the government has created a National Pact for Energy Transition designed to enlist the help of Monaco residents and workers to reduce the Principality’s overall carbon footprint.
MTE has designed a long-term programme that helps individuals measure their own carbon footprint – based on how much they travel, how much waste they generate and how much energy they use – and develop simple action plans to reduce their environmental impact in these areas.
According to Kate and Didier, “Once you know the size of your carbon footprint, the PACT website will help you choose a simple action plan to reduce it. The steps are simple: Can you take the bus more often or carpool to reduce carbon emissions? Can you recycle old clothes and separate your paper, glass and plastic trash? Can you better control your home heating and air conditioning? Can you shut off computers when not using them? These simple steps and other small actions you can take to reduce waste and unnecessary energy use can significantly reduce your carbon footprint.”
During the afternoon, the Mission for Energy Transition team will demonstrate various tools available to accomplish the individual’s personal action plan including an easy 10 questions “calculator” to measure carbon footprint, games to teach children the importance of recycling and tips on lowering energy consumption.
Jean-Luc Nguyen, Director of MTE, added: “First, I thank Kate and Didier for their strong commitment. The Mission for the Energy Transition team will be there on March 18 and hopes you will come and sign the Pact for Energy Transition, because it is all together that we will reach our national target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Other planned activities include an electricity-generating bicycle that mixes fresh smoothies, electric vehicles, children’s eco-activities and an online tool that can measure the solar energy potential of an address in Monaco.
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