The Paris Court of Appeal ordered that the trial of the former minister and his five co-defendants, including Orange CEO Stéphane Richard, be re-examined from May 10.
An expertise that concluded on the possibility of an improvement in the condition of Bernard Tapie who has just started a new medical treatment against his double cancer of the stomach and esophagus.
After his release in July 2019 in the arbitration case which had granted him 403 million euros in 2008 to settle his old dispute with Credit Lyonnais, Bernard Tapie was to be retried on appeal for “fraud”.
At the opening of this trial on October 12, the 77-year-old businessman and former minister appeared very weak and had not made a statement.
However, from the first minutes of the hearing, Bernard Tapie was angry when the president of the hearing recalled the facts.
According to BFMTV, the former OM boss even wanted to leave the room, before being dissuaded by his lawyer.
Arbitration case: Bernard Tapie's angry blow during the appeal trial pic.twitter.com/zaq3SRT2vn
- BFMTV (@BFMTV) October 12, 2020
Bernard Tapie, who incurs seven years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros for “swindling” and “embezzlement of public funds”, has always denied having “robbed the taxpayer”.
In 2008, an arbitration award, a method of private settlement, awarded him 45 million euros solely for moral damage in compensation for the “fault” of Crédit Lyonnais during the resale of German sports equipment supplier Adidas in the 1990s.
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But this decision was declared "fraudulent" in civil proceedings because of "old, close and repeated links" between one of the three arbitrators, Pierre Estoup, the businessman and his former lawyer Maurice Lantourne.
Bernard Tapie was therefore ordered to return the millions received.
Bernard Tapie's companies were placed in liquidation on April 30, paving the way for the sale of his assets so that he could repay his debt, the amount of which is still fiercely contested.
