Against Gaël Bodénès, 56 years old, today number 1 of Bourbon, a group employing more than 5,900 people in 38 countries, the prosecutor requested two years in prison including one year suspended and a fine of 100,000 euros.
He asked for the same sentence for Laurent Renard, 70, former deputy director general in charge of finance.
The heaviest sentence, three years in prison including eighteen months suspended and a fine of 150,000 euros, was requested against Christian Lefèvre, 66, former general director of the oil services group.
All three – against whom the prosecution also requested a ban on professional practice for five years – formed at the material time the executive committee (Comex) of Bourbon, a company operating among others in the service of large global oil majors.
“The decision to take a corrupt approach falls to the Comex”, underlined the prosecutor Jean-Yves Lourgouilloux for whom “it is (in this case) a considered and assumed strategy in order to establish itself or maintain itself in certain countries”.
Bourbon allegedly carried out these corruption operations in three African countries during tax audits.
It was first in Equatorial Guinea, in February 2011, where, according to the prosecution, a sum of 400,000 euros was paid to an intermediary with a view to reducing an initial tax adjustment from eight million euros to 44,849 euros.
Then in Cameroon, in November 2011, where local tax inspectors were given 150,000 euros to save Bourbon Offshore Surf from paying a tax bill of 11 million euros.
In Nigeria, in October 2012, the payment of $700,000 to two controllers and then two million dollars to the head of the Criminal Investigation Department would have reduced the recovery to $4.1 million (US). tax announced in mid-2012 to the tune of $227 million.
“A system”
During the maneuver in Nigeria, Marc Cherqui, then tax director of Bourbon, was described by the prosecutor as a “transmission belt” who, from Lagos, reported on the situation, requested the green light for the payment of hidden commissions and transmitted the acceptances to the Nigerian partner company Intels, which manages the tax audit.
The discovery, on October 19, 2012 by customs officers at Marseille-Marignane airport, of $250,000 in the suitcase of Mr. Cherqui, returning from Lagos, marked the starting point of this investigation which lasted twelve years, plunging in detail of Bourbon’s operations in Africa.
For Mr. Lourgouilloux who requested two years in prison against him, including one year suspended and a fine of 50,000 euros, “Marc Cherqui has put his finger in the jam pot. This is the third corruption operation in which he has participated and he was able to consider that there was no reason why he personally should not benefit from it.”
The accusation is based on his email exchanges with Bourbon officials. “He is the one who speaks, who denounces and finds himself alone against everyone. He is then denigrated, presented as a liar,” observed Mr. Lourgouilloux.
The prosecutor also requested a sentence of eighteen months in prison including one year suspended and a fine of 70,000 euros against Rodolphe Bouchet, current director of Bourbon Marine and Logistics who would have played a role of “interface” between Mr. Cherqui and the Comex, and a one-year suspended prison sentence with a fine of 30,000 euros against two other Bourbon leaders.
However, he considered that “the evidence is insufficient to enter into the process of conviction” against Lilian Genevet, former vice-president of finance.
For the prosecutor, this whole affair “gives the impression that we are dealing with a system, with acts committed on a habitual basis”.
The defense of the eight defendants will speak on Wednesday and Thursday.
