Bernard Tapie again in court: fifteen months after his release, the businessman is retried in Paris from Monday with five co-defendants in the arbitration case which granted him 403 million euros in 2008 and which was canceled in civil for
"fraud"
.
Although very weakened by a double cancer of the stomach and the esophagus, Bernard Tapie, 77, wants to
"participate fully in the trial"
on appeal and will be
"present"
at its opening, Monday, October 12 at 1:30 p.m. indicates his lawyer Hervé Temime.
To read also: Bernard Tapie: "Why I appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union"
On July 9, 2019, the Paris Criminal Court pronounced a general acquittal in favor of the boss of the media group La Provence, the CEO of Orange Stéphane Richard and four other defendants prosecuted for
"swindling"
or complicity in this offense.
For the judges,
"no element of the file"
allowed to affirm that the arbitration, supposed to settle an old dispute between Bernard Tapie and the Credit Lyonnais and which was definitively considered irregular by the civil justice, was the subject of
“Fraudulent practices”
.
The Paris prosecutor's office, which considers that the arbitration was
"rigged"
and which had required prison terms against five of the six defendants, including five years against Bernard Tapie for
"fraud"
and
"embezzlement of public funds"
, appealed.
The Court of Appeal must therefore plunge again for five weeks into this feuilletonnesque affair, which originated in the resale of the German sports equipment manufacturer Adidas in the early 90s. The first afternoon of the hearing should be entirely devoted to bitter procedural battles between the defense and the general prosecutor's office.
The lawyers of the defendants question in particular the regularity of the appeal made by the prosecution.
On these questions raised by the defense, the court can render its decision immediately or decide to rule at the time of deliberation.
Five people are retried alongside Bernard Tapie, twelve years after arbitration - a mode of private settlement - who had granted him 403 million euros, including 45 million for his moral damage alone, in compensation for the
"fault "
Credit Lyonnais when reselling Adidas.
The former lawyer of Bernard Tapie, Maurice Lantourne, and one of the three referees Pierre Estoup are also prosecuted for
"fraud"
, suspected of having
"rigged"
the arbitration award in favor of the former boss of the Olympic from Marseille.
Stéphane Richard, chief of staff of the former Minister of the Economy Christine Lagarde at the material time, and the two former directors of the entities responsible for managing the liabilities of Crédit Lyonnais, Jean-François Rocchi and Bernard Scemama, are retried for
"complicity"
.
To read also: The Adidas-Credit Lyonnais affair, a bad soap opera of twenty-five years
Bernard Tapie is accused of having activated his support at the Elysee Palace so that Sarkozy power chooses arbitration instead of a classic judicial resolution.
Then to make sure of the
"partiality"
of the high magistrate Pierre Estoup, principal draftsman of the arbitration sentence.
Once the sentence is rendered, the former minister of Pierre Bérégovoy would have done everything so that Bercy does not initiate an appeal.
This lack of recourse earned Christine Lagarde, at the end of 2016, to be found guilty of
"negligence"
by the Court of Justice of the Republic, which however exempted her from punishment.
She is currently the only person convicted in this case.
The hearings, scheduled for three half-days a week until November 18, should be held once again without Pierre Estoup, 94, absent from almost all of the first trial for medical reasons.
The State and the Consortium de Réalisation (CDR), the body responsible for managing Crédit Lyonnais' liabilities, are civil parties.
In this case, civil justice canceled the arbitration for
"fraud"
and condemned Bernard Tapie to return the millions collected.
These two decisions were final before the opening of the first criminal trial.
The exact amount of Bernard Tapie's debt is still the subject of bitter procedural contests.
The Paris court of appeal estimated in February that it amounted to 438 million euros, but the businessman appealed in cassation.
Last rebound: the companies of Bernard Tapie, in personal bankruptcy since December 1994, were placed on April 30 in liquidation, paving the way for the sale of his property so that he could repay.
A decision he appealed.
