Two former executives of a subsidiary of Veolia were indicted for "
cartel
" and "
active corruption
" in an investigation into the award of wastewater treatment contracts in Greater Paris, we learned on Friday from judicial source, confirming information from Mediapart.
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They are Patrick Barbalat and Didier Le Tallec, indicted in mid-October and left free without judicial review as part of a judicial investigation opened by the national financial prosecutor's office in May 2020, according to sources familiar with the matter.
A market has more than 311 million euros
This legal information concerns the conditions for the award of the call for tenders launched in 2012 by the Interdepartmental Syndicate for Sanitation of the Parisian Agglomeration (Siaap) for the overhaul of the Clichy-la-Garenne plant ( Hauts-de-Seine), point of passage for a large part of the wastewater of the Parisian agglomeration.
A market of more than 311 million euros.
The Clichy contract was won in April 2015 by a consortium made up in particular of OTV, a subsidiary of Veolia, and the company Stereau. But the administrative court terminated it on November 6, 2018 for conflict of interest. Marco Schiavio, the boss of the Milanese company Passavant who had not won the contract, lodged a complaint in early 2018 leading to the opening of a preliminary investigation by the PNF. He raised possible facts of "
illicit agreements, active corruption, influence peddling and all offenses in connection with public contracts made
" by the Siaap.
According to the complaint, Patrick Barbalat, then deputy general manager of OTV, would have asked Marco Schiavio in January 2014 to increase his offer for the Clichy-la-Garenne plant by 100 million euros in exchange for the payment. one million euros. Goal of the maneuver according to the entrepreneur: that Passavant's offer becomes less attractive than that of OTV and that Siaap therefore awards the Clichy market to the latter.
According to Marco Schiavio, Patrick Barbalat and Didier Le Tallec, operational boss of OTV, would have pressured him to withdraw his appeal lodged in the summer of 2015. They would have offered him "
a sum of between 20 to 25 million euros
”, Payable in the form of subcontracting contracts that the Veolia subsidiary would have given to Passavant.
The entrepreneur relies on recordings of conversations with Patrick Barbalat and Le Tallec, made using a recording pen.
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Didier Le Tallec, who no longer works at OTV but still at Veolia, "
formally disputes the facts
" with which he is accused, reacted to AFP his advice Me Philippe Gonzalez de Gaspard, assuring that his client fell into a "
trap
”set by Passavant.
According to him, the recording is "
unfair
" and passages would have been "
redacted
" before their transmission to justice.
Solicited, the lawyer of Patrick Barbalat, now retired, did not wish to react.
The two defendants intend to contest their indictment before the investigating chamber.
