Former minister Eric Woerth, deputy of the presidential majority, escapes a trial.

The Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) on Monday ordered a dismissal of the judicial investigation relating to a tax boost granted to businessman Bernard Tapie.

Summoned before the CJR to be notified of the decision of the investigating committee of this jurisdiction, he did not appear.

After a short hearing, his lawyer Jean-Yves Le Borgne told AFP that the CJR had dismissed the case.

“The CJR plunged into the intricacies of this technical affair and a kind of general agreement was reached to conclude that there was no reason to reproach the Minister of the Budget at the time who had arbitrated the scheme applicable to Tapie's compensation in relation to the sale of Adidas,” the board said.

A tax arbitration

“There are from time to time inclinations to see evil everywhere and fortunately, it happens that we realize that it is wrong that the suspicion was raised”, welcomed Me Le Borgne.

Former Chairman of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly (2017-2022) and former Minister of Budget and Labor of Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2010), Eric Woerth left LR in early 2022 to join the presidential majority.

He was re-elected MP for Oise in June under the colors of Emmanuel Macron's party.

The deputy was suspected of having granted a tax boost to Bernard Tapie in the context of an arbitration rendered in 2008 and since canceled in civil proceedings.

The general prosecutor's office at the Court of Cassation, which acts as the public prosecutor at the CJR, had requested in May a dismissal in his favor, considering that "the intentional element of the offense of misappropriation did not [appear] be sufficiently characterized.

Advantageous taxes

Businessman Bernard Tapie was granted 403 million euros to settle his dispute with Crédit Lyonnais over the sale of Adidas.

Part of the money was paid to Groupe Bernard Tapie (GBT), one of the holding companies of the former president of Olympique de Marseille.

For the tax authorities, the money paid to GBT should be taxed under corporation tax (33.3%), but the Tapie camp demanded the application of the much more favorable capital gains regime. (1.67%).

Finally, in a letter of April 2, 2009, Eric Woerth's cabinet had decided to tax two-thirds of the allowance at 1.67% and the remaining third at 33.3%.

“Very favorable tax conditions”

To examine the facts concerning this arbitration, the Paris prosecutor's office had opened a judicial investigation in March 2016, following a letter from the attorney general at the Court of Auditors, Gilles Johanet, sent to Bercy and then to justice.

In his letter, this high magistrate wondered about "the very favorable conditions of taxation" granted by Éric Woerth to Bernard Tapie.

A source familiar with the matter noted at the time that the solution proposed by the tax authorities would have resulted in a tax payment of 100 million euros and that GBT had ultimately paid 11 million euros.

At the end of the criminal appeal trial in Paris, four men, including the former boss of Orange Stéphane Richard and the historical lawyer of Bernard Tapie, Maurice Lantourne, were sentenced on November 24, 2021: the arbitration was considered biased in favor of Bernard Tapie.

The defendants filed appeals.

Several court cases

Concerning Eric Woerth, the investigating judges had declared themselves incompetent, because only the CJR is empowered to prosecute and judge ministers for offenses committed in the exercise of their functions.

A judicial investigation was then opened by the CJR's investigating committee in 2019.

Already prosecuted several times but never convicted, Eric Woerth, 66, had already been dismissed in the CJR investigation for the controversial sale of the Compiègne racecourse (Oise) in 2010. He was also acquitted in 2015 of several charges in the Bettencourt case.

Eric Woerth also remains indicted for "illegal election campaign financing" in the investigation into suspicions of Libyan financing of Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign.

Policy

Pensions: Eric Woerth, rallied to Emmanuel Macron, no longer wants to postpone the reform

Elections

Legislative Results 2022: Eric Woerth re-elected for the 4th time MP for Oise

  • Justice

  • Eric Woerth

  • CJR

  • Bernard Tapie

  • lurking case