The Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) pronounced, Monday, October 3, a dismissal in favor of Eric Woerth, targeted since 2019 by a judicial investigation for having granted in 2009 a tax boost, disputed, to Bernard Tapie, announced the lawyer of the former budget minister, Me Jean-Yves Le Borgne.
“The CJR plunged into the intricacies of this technical affair and a sort of general agreement was reached to conclude that there was no reason to reproach the minister of the budget at the time. »commented M.e Le Borgne, who represented Mr. Woerth absent, after having read the deliberations of the commission of instruction of the CJR.
In May, the public prosecutor of the CJR had requested a dismissal for Mr. Woerth, indicted since June 2021, considering that the intentional element of the offense of concussion was not “not sufficiently characterized”.
Mr. Woerth, who notably served as budget minister between 2007 and 2010, was suspected of having granted an undue tax advantage to Mr. Tapie – who died in October 2021 of cancer – after the controversial arbitration of his conflict with Crédit Lyonnais, returned in 2008 and since canceled by civil justice. The businessman had been awarded 403 million euros to settle his dispute with the bank over the sale of Adidas.
“Very favorable tax conditions”
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%.
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. This high magistrate wondered about “very favorable tax conditions” granted by Eric 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.
The acts of misappropriation likely to be reproached to Mr. Woerth having been committed in the exercise of his functions in the government, the Parisian investigating judges seized of the case had declared themselves incompetent.