See: Media: how far will Vincent Bolloré go?
Vincent Bolloré therefore remains indicted for bribery of a foreign public official and therefore risks a criminal trial.
According to several sources familiar with the matter, the canceled plays referred to a failed attempt to “to plead guilty” (CRPC) in February 2021.
See: Corruption in Africa: Vincent Bolloré’s guilty plea constitutes “a turning point”
Vincent Bolloré and two other defendants had tried to avoid a long trial before the criminal court by negotiating with the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office this CRPC which provided for a fine of 375,000 euros, rejected by the court for which the appearance of the three men in correctional was “necessary”.
“First stage”
“This is a first fundamental step for the defense of Vincent Bolloré who intends to continue on this path”commented his lawyer Me Céline Astolfe.
“If the Court of Appeal has chosen to erase, as the procedure allows, this guilty plea, the strong echo given to this CRPC does not allow Vincent Bolloré to be judged fairly”according to her.
“Justice knows how to recognize its errors”welcomed Me Olivier Baratelli, another defense lawyer, stressing that she had “considered that there was an attack on the presumption of innocence of Mr. Bolloré”.
For Me Jérôme Karsenti, lawyer for Anticor and Sherpa, civil parties, “It is a great satisfaction to know that Mr. Bolloré will appear before an independent and impartial tribunal to be tried for corruption”.
“This decision is another indicator of the obstacles to negotiated justice: it is essential that these corruption cases be the subject of a public debate”abounds Chanez Mensous, head of litigation at Sherpa.
Parisian financial judges, seized since 2013, suspect the Bolloré group of having used the political advisory activities of its subsidiary Euro RSCG – which has become Havas – to fraudulently obtain the management of the ports of Lomé and Conakry (Guinea), for the benefit of another of its subsidiaries, Bolloré Africa Logistics, formerly called SDV.
Read: Africa: what is Bolloré doing on the continent?
According to elements of the investigation consulted by AFP, the investigating magistrates, who rely in particular on suspicious financial flows brought to light by Tracfin, conclude that “the existence of a corruption pact emerges from the exchanges of letters” of 2009 between MM. Bolloré and Gnassinbé, and that he was “organized by the highest authorities of the group”.
According to these elements, Mr. Bolloré would have asked Jean-Philippe Dorent, then international director of Euro RSCG, to provide an undervalued service to Mr. Gnassingbé during the 2010 presidential campaign, and would have hired in 2011 a half -brother of the president, in return for various benefits to the Bolloré group and its subsidiaries, in particular the extension of the duration of the concession for the port of Lomé, tax advantages and the construction of a third wharf.
Vincent Bolloré, Jean-Philippe Dorent and Gilles Alix, CEO of the Bolloré group, have been indicted since 2018.
However, in 2019 they obtained the cancellation of their indictment for part of the offenses concerning Guinea, due to prescription.
In 2022, the Bolloré group announced an agreement with the Italian-Swiss shipowner MSC for the sale of its logistics activities in Africa, the emblematic branch of the group which employs more than 20,000 people and concerns more than 20 countries on the African continent, in particular a network of sixteen port concessions, warehouses and road and rail hubs.
Read: MSC: a large Italian family buys the African logistics branch of Bolloré
