From 1985 to 1986, while working for Le Monde, he was one of the targets of a wiretapping scandal perpetrated by a secret presidential anti-terrorism cell, which he had implicated in the "Irish of Vincennes" affair for framing three Irish nationals on terrorism charges.
On 31 October 1985, the French newspaper Le Monde published an article by Edwy Plenel alleging that Captain Paul Barril had "supplied the incriminating evidence" in the Vincennes case.