End of investigation, but not end of threat. The magistrates of the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) closed their judicial investigation on Friday targeting the former Budget Minister Éric Woerth about a disputed tax boost for Bernard Tapie, we learned from of the public prosecutor’s office at the Court of Cassation.
Éric Woerth, chairman of the Finance Committee at the National Assembly (ex-LR past in the Macron camp), has been indicted since July 2021 in this case for “misappropriation”, in this case the granting of a undue tax benefit. He is suspected of having granted a tax rebate to Bernard Tapie after the controversial arbitration of his conflict with Crédit Lyonnais.
The public prosecutor now has three months to submit its submissions, and the defense an additional month to make observations, before a final decision by the CJR’s investigating committee on whether or not Éric Woerth should be referred to the court. from the same CJR.
The Crédit Lyonnais dispute in question
The CJR is the only jurisdiction empowered to prosecute and try ministers for offenses committed in the exercise of their functions. She had opened a judicial investigation in 2019.
As part of the arbitration rendered in 2008 and since canceled in civil proceedings, Bernard Tapie was awarded 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 dated April 2, 2009, Éric Woerth’s cabinet had decided to tax two-thirds of the allowance at 1.67% and the remaining third at 33.3%.