Paris (AFP)
The American group General Electric (GE) on Monday denied "ever received money from the French state" to sell gas turbines to a power plant built in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The American group reacted to the statement of MP Delphine Batho, who estimated that "a 70.3 million euro grant was granted to General Electric Energy Product, headquartered in Belfort (...) to the purchase of four turbos alternators for a combined cycle power plant in Bazian, Iraq, in the first half of 2016 ".
Batho, president of Génération Ecologie, has filed a lawsuit for a "possible illegal take of interests" concerning GE France's general manager, Hugh Bailey, a former adviser to Emmanuel Macron in Bercy until September 2016.
GE reacted by explaining that a guarantee for a bank loan had been granted by Bpifrance for the benefit of its Iraqi client, allowing the conclusion of the sale of turbines.
"In 2016, Bpifrance - Export Insurance (ex-Coface) has granted a guarantee for the bank loan of 70 million euros for the benefit of the Iraqi client of GE, thus allowing the financing of four turbines manufactured in Belfort", details the press release from GE.
"This type of guarantee is a device that encourages and facilitates international export from France for many companies", insists GE in its statement, which speaks of "some untruths" relayed by Delphine Batho "on the nature of financial aid allegedly provided by the French State ".
The US group had already reacted Sunday to the seizure of the prosecutor, saying that "these allegations on Hugh Bailey" were "unfounded".
At the end of May, unions from General Electric had questioned the appointment of Mr. Bailey, some seeing it as "the surety" of a social plan dedicated to shareholders alone, others, a "possible facilitator" for a reindustrialization.
The US group announced at the end of May its intention to cancel 1,050 jobs in France, including 800 in Belfort in the gas turbine business.
? 2019 AFP