The mystery woman allegedly photographed locking lips with Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest in a Paris park at the weekend has broken her silence.
The Australian mining magnate was snapped sharing a passionate kiss with a woman as they took a romantic stroll through the city’s historic Marais district on the Right Bank of the River Seine at the weekend.
Speculation over the woman’s identity ran rampant when the pictures were first published by The Daily Mail on Tuesday; until The Australian named Moroccan Energy Minister Leila Benali as the brunette to allegedly lock lips with the billionaire.
When asked about her relationship with Mr Forrest— business or otherwise — by a Moroccan journalist in Paris, Dr Benali remained tight-lipped on whether she was romantically linked to the Fortescue Chair. She neither confirmed nor denied the authenticity of the photo.
Her ministry later issued a strong statement denying reports linking her to the “Paris kiss”.
The statement, according to Moroccan World News, described the rumours as an “offensive publication” and an “attempt to defame her” by vengeful interest groups opposed to her push to make Morocco a self-sufficient green energy powerhouse.
In it, the ministry lamented the news was circulated without “verification of its credibility by some national pages and media platforms”
“Ms Benali affirms, in her capacity as Minister of the Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, that the attempt to defame that targeted her… is not the first time, as it is a form of revenge and targeting by interest groups on the grounds of its failure to achieve certain gains and objectives,” the statement reads, Morrocan World News reports.
In recent months, Ms Benali has found herself orbiting the Australian billionaire, including welcoming Mr Forrest and a Fortescue delegation in Rabat, the capital of Morocco, in February of this year.
A month earlier, the pair also reportedly bumped into each other in Davos, a town in the Swiss Alps.
It is understood she was in Paris on ministerial business which coincided with a Fortescue delegation to the city that insiders told The Australian was part of efforts to help Morrocco become a “major player in the global energy transition”.
Ms Benali is an engineer turned politician described as “an international expert in the field of energy” with more than 20 years of specialised experience in developing strategies for multiple energy companies.
She was appointed Morocco’s Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development in October 2021, two years after she was appointed a member of the Special Commission on the Development Model (SCDM) — a group mandated to re-think the kingdom’s development trajectory.
She has been President of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) — the world’s top decision-making body on the environment — since March 2022.
In her inaugural address, she committed to “spare no effort” to forge international, multilateral connections with governments, the private sector, and civil society.
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As well as being Morroco’s energy minister, Ms Benali is one of several Moroccan government ministers who sit on the board of directors of state-owned OCP Group, which Fortescue announced in April it was entering into a joint fertilizer-supplying venture with.
The Fortescue announcement said it would join with the group to supply green hydrogen, ammonia, and fertilisers to Africa, Europe and international markets from its hub in Morocco.
Mr Forrest said in the statement at the time that the two companies would build a “world-leading and globally competitive platform to accompany Morocco’s journey into a green energy production, manufacturing, and industrial powerhouse”.
However, the green investment plan — to increase fertiliser production to 20 million tonnes a year, up from 12 million in 2022, and invest in renewable energy — spearheaded by Ms Benali and the ministry is reportedly causing controversy to countries and companies that Morroco once relied upon.
Furthermore, OCP Group had originally intended to do a joint green ammonia venture in the southwest Morroco fishing town of Tarfaya near the contested Western Sahara border. It’s not clear whether the Fortescue-backed joint venture will follow the original plans to build in the embattled region.
Mr Forrest’s representatives have declined to comment on the pictures.
It is the first time he has been allegedly romantically linked with someone after he and his wife Nicola announced their shock split last year.
In a joint statement, the couple announced they had decided to “live apart” after 31 years of marriage. It was understood they have no plans to divorce.