The toll of partial unemployment scams linked to the first confinement continues to grow.
Illustration in the Loir-et-Cher department where a couple of French entrepreneurs, aged 35 and 33, have just been unmasked at the end of a six-month investigation carried out by financial investigators from the interregional directorate of the Orléans judicial police.
Arrested Tuesday, January 19, the suspects would have squandered at least 452,000 euros of state aid by diverting the emergency device.
According to sources close to the investigation, they were indicted this Thursday evening for "fraud and money laundering in an organized gang" and imprisoned.
Eight companies
The case began in July 2020 when the labor inspectorate of Loir-et-Cher reported to the Blois public prosecutor's office suspicious statements by many employees on short-time working from eight companies.
Working in the construction industry in particular, five of these companies are located in Loir-et-Cher, one in Seine-et-Marne and the last in Paris.
At the time, the government opened the floodgates of short-time work urgently to prevent any business closures or massive layoffs in the context of the first strict confinement linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
We must act quickly to deal with the almost total shutdown of the country's economic activity and the device, very protective, is granted without much vigilance.
The checks will only take place after the fact.
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Investigations reveal that these eight companies having requested partial unemployment do not employ these employees who are fictitious - some are even declared simultaneously in several different places - and that their activity is absolutely not in line with the large number of hours declared.
"They all had in common not only to have considerably increased their payroll during the confinement of March and April 2020 in order to benefit from the payment of substantial sums for partial activity", explains the public prosecutor of Bois, Frédéric Chevallier, in a press release.
Dozens of fictitious employees
According to the investigation, the organization of this fraud revolves around one person.
This is the 33-year-old man, suspected of having set up this fraudulent arrangement with his partner and with the help of the companies concerned.
He would have used the identities of the companies to declare these many fictitious employees - between 15 and 25 per structure.
The police discovered large movements of funds between the bank accounts of the companies and those of the couple.
At this stage of the investigations and the census of companies, they estimate at least 452,897 euros the amount of misappropriated allowances, not to mention the 254,623 euros of attempted fraud.
In custody at the PJ of Orléans, the business manager admitted having benefited from this scam, but denied being the architect.
He was already known to the police for financial offenses.
His companion, for her part, remained silent.
None wanted to explain what they used this embezzled money for.
216,000 euros were recovered by investigators from their accounts for criminal assets.
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The judicial information opened by the Blois prosecutor's office will now focus on identifying the couple's accomplices.
For the prosecutor, it is about a "vast swindle of short-time working, a real fraudulent system organized and lucrative".
