France: General Electric accused of laundering tax evasion by the CSE of Belfort
General Electric logo on the Belfort site in France, February 5, 2019. REUTERS / Vincent Kessler
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3 mins
The Economic Social Committee and the General Electric inter-union at the Belfort site announced on Tuesday that they had filed a complaint with the National Financial Prosecutor's Office.
They accuse the multinational of laundering tax evasion in particular, pointing to the tax evasion maneuvers of the American group.
According to the plaintiffs, since the takeover of the Belfort turbine plant from Alstom in 2015, the American multinational has caused at least 500 million euros to escape.
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This complaint against X for laundering of tax evasion, breach of trust, forgery and use of forgery, and aggravated concealment in an organized gang "
was filed with the PNF
" on Monday, said Maître Eva Joly, lawyer for the CSE and the CFE-CGC unions. et Sud, during a press conference on the General Electric site in Belfort.
"
This is an exceptional moment because complaints of laundering tax evasion against multinationals are rare
," she said.
"
The laundering of aggravated tax evasion is seven years of imprisonment incurred and the leaders can be responsible for the amount of the fraud on their assets
".
Questioned by AFP, the PNF confirmed that it had "
been the recipient this morning of the complaint filed by the social and economic committee and the inter-union of General Electric in Belfort
".
Since the acquisition of the Belfort turbine plant from the French group Alstom in 2015, the American multinational has leaked more than 500 million euros from the General Electric site in Belfort to Switzerland and the American state of Delaware, where taxation is more advantageous, according to the unions and Maître Eva Joly.
►
To read also
: General Electric: the French executive under fire from critics
Historical decision
For Philippe Petitcolin, CFE-CGC union representative, this complaint is a very important decision
.
"
It's historic because there are very few unions that complain to the PNF, and yet it's the only way to be able to change things
,"
he explains at the microphone of
Altin Lazaj.
Because we, as trade unionists, have access to all accounting information.
What we criticize is that the profits generated by our activities are not located in France, but in tax havens, which leads to General Electric not paying taxes, but which also leads to an artificial deficit which is used by the company to justify relocations, to justify not increasing salaries, to justify not investing and this tax evasion condemns our entity to die.
Philippe Petitcolin, union delegate CFE-CGC
“
Despite the reports, despite the meetings, despite the information that we have transmitted to the tax authorities for four years, nothing changes, and therefore the tax evasion of General Electric continues
,” he says.
The French tax administration denied on Monday to AFP having validated a tax optimization plan for the American industrial giant General Electric (GE), which would have allowed it to transfer several hundred million euros in profits abroad. .
"
There is a lack of political will to fight against tax havens
," said Quentin Parrinello, of Oxfam, also present on Tuesday with the Attac association to support the inter-union approach.
As we learned that #GeneralElectric transferred more than 800 million euros from France to tax havens, we were this morning alongside the unions to support them!
✊ #FiscalEvasion #TaxFraud pic.twitter.com/xZnZN73RIq
- Attac France (@attac_fr) May 31, 2022
► To read also:
General Electric: two members of the management want to take advantage of the social plan
"
I hope that the filing of a complaint (...) before the National Financial Prosecutor's Office will allow for full transparency in this affair.
Bercy must also position itself: the time of tax havens is over
,” reacted the president of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, Marie-Guite Dufay (PS).
“
If this information is verified, it is potentially hundreds of millions of euros in tax revenue for the country and for the territory of Belfort that could not have been invested in local development
”.
(and with AFP)
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