Auchan admits having been exposed to corruption at its Russian subsidiary

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The French distributor Auchan admits to having been confronted with corruption in Russia, but affirms that the problem "has been treated". A statement following the article in the newspaper Les Echos which revealed several corruption cases found by his correspondent in Moscow.

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“ There was indeed corruption in Russia, but it was dealt with, years ago. If there are other cases, we will treat them. "This is how Edgard Bonte, president of the Auchan Retail group, responded to the daily economic survey .

In the process, Auchan published its annual results. The group's net loss exceeded 1.2 billion in 2019, a drop of more than 12%. And part of this loss would be attributed to Russia.

It was Alexei Jarkov, the anti-corruption lawyer trained in Moscow and the ENA, who uncovered the case. Hired by the group, this expert identified five corruption networks before being beaten by unknown attackers. Meanwhile, the cleaning was done among the local managers, as for the lawyer, he was thanked.

For a long time, the Russian subsidiary has contributed to Auchan's good results, but for the past few years it has been its Achilles heel. The losses recorded in 2019 reached at least 14 million euros for a turnover of more than 4.3 billion.

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• Russia
• France
• Corruption
• Trade and distribution

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