At the trial of Bernard Squarcini, Bernard Arnault charges François Ruffin, whom he accuses of wanting to “sell” his film

JUSTICE – The richest man in France plays the naivety. Bernard Arnault, summoned as a witness at the trial of former head of domestic intelligence Bernard Squarcini, who is accused of having monitored François Ruffin and his newspaper Fakir for three years on behalf of LVMH, was eagerly awaited at the helm, this Thursday, November 28.

Heard at the request of François Ruffin and his lawyers, the CEO of the French luxury giant was summoned to explain the surveillance operation put in place around the future deputy of the Somme. At the material time, François Ruffin was filming Thanks Boss!a satirical documentary on Bernard Arnault, making LVMH fear possible interventions by the director during general meetings of the group.

This Thursday, Bernard Arnault began by recalling that he was only present as a witness, “ simple witness ” even. By arguing that in this case, his “ indictment was never considered by the investigating judges”. It must in fact be remembered that neither LVMH nor Bernard Arnault are implicated in this case, since the group had reached an agreement with the French justice system at the end of 2021 – a “judicial agreement of public interest” -, guaranteeing the abandonment prosecution in exchange for a fine of 10 million euros.

“That’s François Ruffin’s type, that”

At the helm, Bernard Arnault was therefore content to deny any involvement, almost systematically placing the blame on his former number 2, Pierre Godé, who died in 2018. All while evoking an absence of memory or complete ignorance of the actions of his vice-president, Bernard Squarcini or even his personal secretary.

Instead, Bernard Arnault preferred to attack François Ruffin head-on. The businessman believes, for example, that the left-wing MP “tries to exploit this trial for personal, media, political, even commercial reasons “. In particular by doing “ promoting his latest film ”, namely Get to work!which arose on 6 November.

Accusations that the billionaire also reiterated when he was questioned about an episode in 2014, during which he is suspected of having put pressure on France Télévisions and on the journalist of Further investigation Tristan Waleckx after a subject about himself. “ I was almost accused of having killed Benoît Duquesne (the presenter of the show at the time, editor's note)! That's François Ruffin's type: he just wants to sell his film, create media hype! », got carried away Bernard Arnault.

The CEO of LVMH still allowed himself some humor. Like when he claimed to have seen Thanks Boss! « upon its release » and found it « quite funny “. Enough to inspire the following remark: François Ruffin “is much better cinematically than politically.”

“Infiltrating a bunch of clowns is no use”

But the tone quickly became serious again when the 75-year-old billionaire was bombarded with questions about his degree of involvement in the espionage of François Ruffin, which were based on several testimonies quoting him directly and seeming to prove, the leasthis knowledge of the device. Was he kept informed by Pierre Godé? “Absolutely not. »

However, in a conversation recorded on March 6, 2013, his secretary mentioned to Bernard Squarcini a “mail from FakirI don’t know how Mr. Arnault got it”. His defense this Thursday: “I am not used to receiving letters from Fakirthat doesn't mean anything to me. » The day after this exchange, Pierre Godé discussed on the telephone with Bernard Squarcini a « infiltration » ? Bernard Arnault's response: “It is not for me to judge what Mr. Godé can do, I was absolutely unaware of all that. »

« If I had known (that LVMH) wanted to infiltrate FakirI would have said no, I would have vetoed it. Because it's useless. Infiltrating a bunch of clowns is no use “, finally blurted out the businessman, whose defense never moved, despite this sometimes muscular interrogation.

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