The Luxembourg holding company Société Financiere des Rubbers (Socfin) paid 142,000 euros to Cameroonian plaintiffs on Wednesday, a penalty imposed by the French justice system for not having produced documents which could establish its links with the French company Bolloré.
“The Socfin company today paid the 142,000 euros it owed to the 145 Cameroonian plaintiffs,” said Mr. Fiodor Rilov, lawyer for these plaintiffs in a press release sent to AFP.
A payment confirmed to AFP by the council of the holding company, Me Dominique de Leusse de Syon.
These 145 Cameroonian residents have been engaged for many years in proceedings against the Société Camerounaise de Palmeraies (Socapalm), which they accuse of being controlled by the Bolloré group through Socfin.
This issue was brought to the forefront by LFI MP Louis Boyard in November 2022 on the set of the show “Touche pas à mon poste” (TPMP) on the C8 channel, provoking the ire of the host Cyril Hanouna.
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According to them, the exploitation of land near where they live prevents them from accessing land and burial sites and pollutes the waters on which they depend.
As part of an interim order against the group and the Luxembourg holding company in September, an investigative measure under penalty was granted to the 145 plaintiffs by the Versailles Court of Appeal.
An attack on fundamental rights
As early as December 2022, this court considered that Socapalm's activities were “likely to infringe the fundamental rights” of the applicants “and in particular their right to a healthy environment”.
The court then requested the production of documents which could, according to the plaintiffs, prove that Socapalm is controlled by the Bolloré group via Socfin, which would subject the French industrial giant to a “duty of vigilance” regarding its activities.
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A 2017 law requires larger companies to prevent serious human rights and environmental abuses by their foreign subcontractors and suppliers.
Failing to produce the requested documents, a judge ordered payment to the plaintiffs by Socfin of a penalty of 140,000 euros, to which have since been added 2,000 euros in costs.
“The objective is restoration measures”
Then, in February, Cameroonian farmers seized the holding company's brand, an action validated by bailiffs to force Socfin to pay, which has now been done.
“Socfin complies with French judicial decisions, even if they are all the subject of an appeal,” Me de Leusse de Syon told AFP.
Socfin has now produced the requested documents, assures Me Rilov.
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“We will use these documents to launch a substantive action on the basis of the duty of vigilance against Bolloré, Socfin and Socapalm,” he explains to AFP.
He believes he can “demonstrate that Bolloré has control of Socfin”.
“The objective is restoration measures” where Cameroonians live, he explains.