Paris (AFP)
Failure and coup de theater for Vincent Bolloré: the French billionaire thought to escape a trial in Paris for corruption in Togo by admitting his guilt and paying a fine of 375,000 euros, but a judge refused on Friday to validate this agreement, considering it "necessary "that he be tried in correctional.
Vincent Bolloré, Gilles Alix, CEO of the Bolloré group, and Jean-Philippe Dorent, international director of the Havas communication agency (a subsidiary of Bolloré), came with confidence to the Paris judicial court.
At the end of an investigation entrusted in 2013 to investigating judges and two months of negotiations with the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF), the three men had accepted an appearance on prior admission of guilt (CRPC) and the payment of a fine of 375,000 euros, revealed Friday the weekly Obs.
The CRPC - a sort of "guilty plea" à la française - is based on an agreement between the prosecution and the perpetrator of an offense, who admits his guilt and pays a fine.
But a judge must then give the green light during a hearing in the presence of the public prosecutor, the defendants and their lawyers.
During the hearing on Friday, the holding company and MM.
Bolloré, Alix and Dorente acknowledged having used the political advisory activities of the Havas subsidiary in order to win the management of the ports of Lomé in Togo and Conakry in Guinea for the benefit of another subsidiary, Bolloré Africa Logistics, formerly called SDV.
SDV had obtained the management of the port of Conakry a few months after the election to the Guinean presidency of Alpha Condé at the end of 2010 and had won the concession in Lomé shortly before the re-election in 2010 in Togo of Faure Gnassingbé.
These two political figures were then both advised by Havas for their electoral campaign.
The protagonists of the case had obtained in June 2019 the annulment by the Paris Court of Appeal of their indictment for part of the offenses concerning Guinea, due to prescription.
Friday, the PNF prosecutor stressed that the fine of 375,000 euros accepted by the three businessmen corresponded to the maximum fine penalty incurred.
"This sentence takes into account the seriousness of the facts through the maximum quantum, their seniority" and the closure of the proceedings for the Bolloré group, he added, ruling out the possibility of a prison sentence, while they risked up to five years.
"This CRPC was accepted as part of a global settlement, Mr. Bolloré is keen to preserve the future of the group and its employees", for his part assured Me Olivier Baratelli, lawyer of the industrialist, of the group and Mr. Alix.
- A "necessary" trial -
But to the surprise of both the defense and the prosecution, the court judge rejected the deal.
"The sentences proposed by the prosecutor and accepted by you are unsuitable" in view of the gravity of the facts and it is "necessary that they be tried by a correctional court", she told the three men.
The offenses, recognized by the 17th French fortune in 2020, according to the classification of the magazine Challenges, and the two leaders, "seriously undermined economic public order" and "the sovereignty of Togo", she said. valued.
The decision on a trial now rests with a magistrate.
Me Baratelli declined to comment on the decision.
On the other hand, the judge validated the Judicial Convention of Public Interest (CJIP) targeting the Bolloré group, which provides for a fine of 12 million euros.
The company has undertaken to pay this fine "to the Treasury within ten days", the PNF said in a press release.
This procedural framework was created in 2016 to allow companies implicated in cases of corruption, influence peddling or money laundering to negotiate a fine in exchange for dropping the charges.
Before a criminal court, the group faced a much lower fine, up to 750,000 euros.
But a criminal conviction could have hindered the multinational's key access to public markets.
To this fine is added the provisioning of 4 million euros to cover the cost of a program to comply with the rules of the French anti-corruption agency (AFA), which will carry out monitoring for two years, under the terms of the CJIP.
If the conditions are met, the end of the proceedings will be final for the group, which recalled Friday evening in a press release that it had ten days to "decide (...) if this agreement becomes final" or to challenge it.
© 2021 AFP