Five men were indicted last week in the investigation into a vast fraud of more than six million euros in social security contributions organized since 2017 in the construction sector in the Nantes region, AFP learned on Tuesday from from the Rennes public prosecutor's office.
Among the five accused, of Turkish and Georgian nationality, two were placed in pre-trial detention and the others under judicial supervision, added the public prosecutor of Rennes, Philippe Astruc, confirming information from the newspaper
Presse Océan
.
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Turnover of 11.8 million euros
A preliminary investigation was opened by the JIRS (specialized interregional jurisdiction) prosecutor's office in Rennes at the end of May 2023 for covert work in an organized gang, aggravated money laundering, forgery and use of forged documents as well as misuse of corporate assets.
This investigation revealed
“that a company manager domiciled in Nantes headed a fraudulent organization allowing numerous construction companies to evade social charges via five shell companies registered with the Nantes commercial court in succession since 2017”
, explains the prosecution.
In total, around twenty construction companies located in the Nantes region called on these companies which invoiced subcontracting services.
“This false subcontracting represented a cumulative turnover of 11.8 million euros
,” for damage suffered by Urssaf estimated at nearly 6.7 million euros, according to the prosecution.