2023-04-25 23:37:18
The Court of Appeal rendered its decision on Tuesday once morest a former branch manager of a New Caledonian bank, tried for breach of trust and forgery and use of forgery. Absent at his trial, the defendant was accused by a couple of having embezzled more than a hundred million francs. He received a year in prison.
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They thought they had made a fortune with their financial investments, but it was only window dressing. A couple of traders have been recognized as victims of the dishonest actions of a former branch manager of a New Caledonian bank, which has a storefront, by the Nouméa Court of Appeal. He was sentenced on Tuesday, April 25, to one year in prison.
This unbelievable story, “and much more complicated than it originally appeared”, recognizes Advocate General Christian Pasta, took shape in 2015 when two clients approached their banking institution to close and liquidate several life insurance companies, the amount of which is estimated at more than 710 million francs.
After internal checks, the bank replies that there is no trace of their contracts, even thinking, at the start, that it is dealing with fraudsters who are trying to defraud it. A complaint will even be filed.
But these former managers of a service station, then of a car junkyard, have enough to prove that they are in good faith because they have in their possession around twenty certificates of financial investments – and in particular via vouchers in anonymous bearer – which were delivered to them in person by their bank adviser.
Where did the money go?
They say that from 1995, they entrusted their savings – especially cash – to this former branch manager, whom they trusted completely to manage their financial assets. With interest rates that were close to 8% per year in stock market investments, the promise of making a lot of money prevailed over the rest.
Caution, however, would have been needed because these documents ultimately turned out to be vulgar forgeries. On the certificates, the numbers of supposedly open contracts did not correspond to anything and the signatures of the directors of the banks were falsified.
The money invested by the spouses, namely more than 117 million francs, has literally disappeared. Volatilized. But where did he go? Even today, it is impossible to know.
Before the Nouméa Court of Appeal, at the hearing on March 28, the traders maintained what they had always declared since the start of the procedure: “we have not received a franc”. “They thought they were earning 717 million francs with interest, before discovering the deception in 2015. This banker gave them confidence and he knew how to do it. He smelled the good vein. Ask yourself the question: who benefits from these fakes? », accuses their lawyer Me Martin Calmet, critic “a calamitous investigation procedure”.
There was no search of the assets and in particular of the accounts of the banker’s wife.
Me Martin Calmet, lawyer for the civil party
At first instance, in February 2022, the court had sentenced this bank executive to eight months in prison suspended for forgery and use of forgery and had acquitted him for the offense of breach of trust.
Because a problem remains in this file: the evidence. “What is embarrassing is that you have nothing, affirms the president Philippe Dorcet while addressing the tradesmen. No papers, no supporting documents, no proof… except forgeries. » The magistrate repeats it, “It’s a matter of proof because when you withdraw a bearer bond, it’s anonymous. We have suspicions regarding the banker, yes, but no certainty. We don’t know… We lose track of the money. The hypothesis, also, that you are accomplices with the adviser is also not excluded “.
The opportunity precisely for the Advocate General to point the finger “the system of anonymous vouchers”.
Banks were the big washing machine before, and even today.
Christian Pasta, General Counsel
President Dorcet also speaks “of an extraordinary laundering platform” what these anonymous vouchers represented. “We find names among the users who are sometimes well known, it gives an image of the practices on the territory. »
Comments that end up irritating Me Marie-Astrid Cazali : “I didn’t know it was the bank trial ».
The lawyer of the establishment prefers to be interested “at the origin of the funds of the spouses”.
Only cash was placed. Where does it come from?
Me Marie-Astrid Cazali, lawyer for the banking establishment
“In 2015, they came to claim 717 million francs from the bank. But did they declare the 600 million francs of tax interest during all these years? »
As for the bank manager, he pleaded for release for the breach of trust by the voice of Mr.e Anne-Laure Dumons who insists that “There is no evidence that (his) client has embezzled a franc”. “This crime does not stand” defence.
A month following the hearing, the Court of Appeal therefore delivered its deliberation on April 25. The former banker was convicted of forgery and use of forgery and sentenced to one year in prison, which he will serve with an electronic bracelet on his ankle.
Now 76 years old, the defendant, who has lived in Metropolitan France for many years, will also have to pay 3 million francs in moral damages to the couple of traders and 1.3 million francs to the bank.
The magistrates, on the other hand, retained the release for the breach of trust, for the benefit of the doubt.
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