The “whatever it costs” to maintain businesses, this national solidarity in favor of the economy during the Covid-19 pandemic, was very appreciated by catering professionals. In particular the aid granted within the framework of the solidarity fund to compensate for losses in turnover. But there had been some slip-ups.
A suspended fine and the obligation to repay
Was this the case of the manager of the Ted’s hot dog brand, in Tours, whose story was mentioned before the Poitiers criminal court, Thursday October 10, 2024?
Between mid-August 2020 and the end of May 2021, the restaurateur had submitted fourteen requests to support his business for a total amount of €54,000. No turnover was declared in 2019, the year on which the special Covid-19 financial aid was to be based. The tax service sleuths ended up demonstrating it. On July 31, 2022, the departmental directorate of public finances of Indre-et-Loire reported the facts to the public prosecutor of Poitiers. The former boss (the business disappeared at the end of 2021) had moved to Vienne.
“Legitimate to punish those who did not play the game”
If the sum of €54,000 corresponded to the requests, the tax services determined the amount unduly collected to be €21,680. Absent from the hearing, the thirty-year-old was heard in a free hearing at the Ormes gendarmerie brigade. He then explained to the soldiers that his mother took care of the restaurant’s accounting and that he had not made these requests himself. “But he acknowledges having received this aidadmitted his lawyer. He currently lives with his parents. He has been depressed for four years and he did not even ask for the RSA: he did not see himself asking for public money to live after this liability. »
A schedule set up to repay
“A form of repentance in advance! »smiled the president of the court. The analysis was not likely to dispel the Poitiers public prosecutor: “He lied, this money was paid to him and it is society as a whole that suffers. It is legitimate to punish those who did not play the game.” A sentence of four months in prison with a probationary suspension of two years was requested with the obligation to pay compensation.
His lawyer tried to change the proposed sentence: “Today, he recognizes the facts. We can blame him for his negligence, for not having sufficiently monitored his company and its accounts. Since the end of September, he has put in place a schedule to repay this debt, to the tune of €50 per month. I ask for clemency towards him. »
The judges found the former restaurateur guilty. He was sentenced to a suspended fine of €5,000 and to repay €21,680 to public finances.
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