Emmanuel Dupic, the public prosecutor of Vesoul.

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PATRICK HERTZOG / AFP

The French transporter Gefco is suspected of having benefited from an illegal system of "employee loan" by Polish and Slovak companies, employed in "unworthy conditions" and for a loss of 800,000 euros, the Vesoul prosecutor's office said on Friday. .

Ten people, including five executives from logistics specialist Gefco, have been arrested since Tuesday as part of this investigation for "hidden work" and "use of an organized gang in the service of a person carrying out hidden work", entrusted to the 'Central Office for the Fight against Illegal Work (OCLTI), said prosecutor Emmanuel Dupic during a press conference.

Five of these suspects were indicted: three executives of a company based in Alsace, suspected of having created two companies in Slovakia and two in Poland, which allegedly supplied foreign truck drivers to Gefco illegally, as well as two responsible for these foreign companies.

“The main author of this system, a manager of the Alsatian company, was imprisoned.

It is extremely rare in this type of case that there is a provisional detention ”, underlined the prosecutor.

The other four were placed under judicial supervision.

A survey that dates back to 2017

In addition, four managers of Gefco sites located in Paris, Haute-Saône and Alsace are in police custody and will be presented on Saturday to an examining magistrate in Vesoul with a view to their possible indictment, according to Emmanuel Dupic.

A fifth has tested positive for Covid-19.

The indicted face three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.

The companies concerned risk a 225,000 euros fine.

The investigations, launched in 2017, brought to light an international labor loan, "but it was an irregular labor loan, because it was not declared", explained Emmanuel Dupic and Lieutenant-Colonel Thierry Bertron , deputy commander of the OCLTI.

"The challenge for these business leaders was to escape the payment of their social contributions in France for a loss estimated by Urssaf at 800,000 euros between 2015 and 2018", according to the prosecutor.

During the investigations, the gendarmerie discovered 35 Slovak and Polish drivers who were transiting "in unworthy conditions" on a logistics base in Quincey (Haute-Saône), near Vesoul, underlined the prosecutor.

Emmanuel Dupic described "extremely dilapidated bungalows with water infiltration, sewage odors and mold".

Justice

Soyaux-Angoulême XV condemned for "hidden work" in the case of "player photographers"

Miscellaneous

Mayor LR of Tarbes sentenced to a fine of 35,000 euros for concealed work

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