The arbitration supposed to settle the dispute between Bernard Tapie and Crédit Lyonnais is 13 years old and he returns to court this Monday once again.

The appeal trial, for suspicion of fraud, restarts in Paris, after a seven-month parenthesis related to the health of the 78-year-old businessman.

A few days after its opening in October, the trial was postponed, an expert opinion having concluded that the former Minister of the City (1992-93) was not in a position to appear.

Fighting against cancer and victim with his wife in early April of a violent burglary at his home, he will nevertheless be present this Monday in court, said his lawyer Hervé Temime.

A business started in the 1990s

The hearings resume nearly two years after the resounding acquittal in this case by the Paris Criminal Court, for the benefit of Bernard Tapie and his five co-defendants, including Orange boss Stéphane Richard. The affair, in which the ex-president of Olympique de Marseille has always denied having "plundered the state", finds its roots in the 1990s with the resale of sports equipment supplier Adidas. Believing himself cheated in this operation by Crédit Lyonnais, Bernard Tapie had engaged in a legal battle with his historic bank.

Fifteen years later, a private arbitration had found a "fault" of the former public bank and awarded the entrepreneur 403 million euros.

The sentence was immediately controversial and, on the civil level, was finally annulled for “fraud” in 2015, Bernard Tapie being definitively ordered to reimburse the sums collected.

The call of the prosecution

The trial which resumes is that of the penal aspect, in which he is suspected of having "rigged" the arbitration. First by maneuvering so that this mode of private settlement is chosen through its support at the Elysee Palace, during the five-year term of Nicolas Sarkozy. Then by making sure that the result would be favorable to him. In July 2019, the court considered that "nothing" in the file allowed the existence of "fraudulent maneuvers" committed by him to be confirmed. The court had dismissed the prosecution for embezzlement of public funds and ruled that the evidence of a fraud was not reported. The prosecution had appealed.

Five men are therefore retried alongside the boss of the media group

La Provence

, including his former lawyer Maurice Lantourne, and one of the three arbitrators who handed down the sentence, suspected of "partiality", Pierre Estoup.

Stéphane Richard, chief of staff of the Minister of the Economy at the time of the facts, appears for complicity.

The last two defendants are the former directors of the entities responsible for managing the liabilities of Crédit Lyonnais, Jean-François Rocchi and Bernard Scemama.

The debates must end no later than June 14 and the decision will be reserved.

Society

The Paris prosecutor's office resumes the investigation into the robbery of the Tapie couple

Miscellaneous

Bernard Tapie's former yacht "Phocéa" catches fire

  • Paris

  • Justice

  • Tapie Arbitration

  • Bernard Tapie

  • Adidas

  • Credit Lyonnais

  • Lurking case