A network, suspected of having fraudulently obtained state aid for short-time working in the context of the Covid-19 health crisis, was dismantled by the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction (Jirs) of Rennes, a-t- we learned this Friday from a judicial source.
According to the prosecutor, this network would be involved in scams amounting to "
more than 3,290,000 euros
".
Started in 2020, after reports from the Dirrecte (regional labor department), the investigation led at the beginning of the week to the arrest, "
mainly in the Nantes region, of twelve people (including three women), aged 26 to 69 years old
”, indicated the public prosecutor of Rennes Philippe Astruc in a press release.
Some of them were already known to the courts for scams.
Read also Partial unemployment, solidarity fund ... These companies suspected of defrauding
“
Five people were presented (Thursday) to the investigating magistrate of the Jirs and indicted today (Friday) of the heads referred to the opening of information.
Two were placed under judicial supervision and three in pre-trial detention,
”said the prosecutor.
The magistrate specifies that a judicial investigation had been opened in April 2021 of the counts of “
scams and attempted scams in an organized group, laundering of fraud in an organized group, criminal association, and violation of the prohibition to manage
”.
Seven other people were released and "
more than 300,000 euros of seizures
" were also made, according to the prosecution.
"A structured organization"
The Jirs had been seized "
during the year 2020 by the Nantes prosecutor's office of several reports from the Direccte
" which implicated "
four companies for the fraudulent obtaining of the total sum of 516,417 euros of partial unemployment scams proposed by the State within the framework of the health crisis
”, indicates the prosecutor.
Read also Partial unemployment: stricter conditions for vulnerable employees
The investigations led to the discovery of "
a structured organization
" involving many companies domiciled in particular in Rennes, Laval, Paris and the Paris region, Nantes and Vannes.
At their head were "
straw managers
" or people "
who have usurped identities
".
According to Philippe Astruc, the investigations “
also brought to light a particularly opaque system, which made it possible to release for two other companies an amount of more than 2.7 million euros through insurance activities and 'assistance that had no legality
'.
The indicted face 10 years imprisonment, a 750,000 euros fine or half the value of the sums laundered.