The trafficking of gold from Africa is spiraling out of control and brings in dizzying sums of money to traders and smugglers specializing in the trade in this rare metal.
The presumed head of this occult network which has just been dismantled, a 62-year-old "Musician" was indicted on Friday, May 21, 2021 in Versailles (Yvelines), along with seven other men and women for money laundering. organized gang, criminal association, hidden work, committed between 2018 and December 2020, in Île-de-France, Eure, Landes, Switzerland and Belgium.
The investigation, carried out by the Saint-Germain-en-Laye research brigade begins in December 2018, when an employee of a private security company, theoretically based in Villepreux, pushes the door of the Jouars gendarmerie. Pontchartrain and files a complaint against his employer. This man explains that his boss employs seven former police officers, gendarmes or soldiers to ensure the safety of people and transport of gold in Africa and France. These missions are real, the employees even have pay slips. But they didn't get a single penny.
The gendarmes discover that this company is linked to three others, but their activities are hidden.
The boss, Nicolas, 48, and his father Lucien, are in tune with Vianney, the son of an old “Françafrique” trucker who was recently convicted.
The three men appear to be associated in the trafficking of gold from Burkina Faso and Uganda where they have contact with "ministers and generals" who would facilitate their business.
Lucien made several trips to Africa to buy or attempt to buy gold at the rate of 5 or 20 kg (with a value in France of 250,000 to 1 million euros) which was to be transported to Europe by commanders not very observant.
On his account in Switzerland ... 348 million euros
The wiretaps make it possible to understand that they are in relation with an order giver, Jean Marc Z., who would resell this gold in Hong Kong or Dubai. During their investigation, the gendarmes update relations, in Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal, all linked by these gold cases. But a lot of information escapes them, as their targets communicate using encrypted messaging. To carry out his business, Jean-Marc Z, relies on Gerardo D. This Parisian retiree, responsible for finding outlets, received bank transfers from the “Musician”. He made trips in 2019 to Lausanne, Kampala, Nairobi and Istanbul on his behalf ...
Jean-Marc Z., in his sixties with smoked glasses, is installed in the Landes. He would live with his mother and do not declare anything to taxes. But according to the investigations, he would secretly brew sums that make you dizzy. His personal bank accounts opened in neobanks (N26, Revolut ...) show around 300,000 euros. He drives a Porsche 911 or a Ford Mustang when it's not Harley Davidson. Caviar, jewelry, luxury leather goods are also on the program. And when he travels to Thailand, he uses the bank card of an acquaintance for his travel expenses.
But all of this is nothing compared to what the true nature of his fortune might be.
The gendarmes recovered the photo of one of his African account statements, which would conceal 40 million euros, from another in Budapest to the tune of eleven million euros.
It is mainly a question of an account in Switzerland which reports a sum of 348 million euros.
According to the statements of one of his accomplices, this "Musician" would have seven tons of gold hidden in Africa.
The gendarmes arrested nine suspects in this case
On May 19, 2021, the gendarmes arrested these nine men and women in Paris, in the Yvelines, in the Landes and in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. They are placed in police custody. During the auditions, Jean Marc Z. ensures that he was loaned money to carry out musical projects. And the millions of euros in his accounts? He explains that the first was made available to him by the family of a famous Minister of Justice and that the other two accounts belong to a gold intermediary who was presented to him by the Prince of Transylvania.
Gerardo, a thirty-year-old friend, confirms that he is passionate about the gold business. His activities lead him to come into contact with very wealthy people capable of getting involved in this business. He admits having made several trips to Africa, financed by Jean-Marc. But also to have gone to Hong Kong to negotiate a sale. Jean-Marc's mother admits that it was used as a mailbox and that her account was used by her son to help him. The restaurateur and the entrepreneur of the South-West maintain that they were ripped off by Jean-Marc, listening to his promises and attracted by the greed. Z's companion confirms that she has received gifts and that the transactions identified by the gendarmes indeed come from the gold trade.
Ile-de-France entrepreneurs largely minimize their involvement in their declarations. Nicolas G. assures that his company was liquidated after the loss of a protection contract in Africa and that he was unable to pay the salaries of his employees. He was counting on Vianney to pay him a commission on a sale of 850 kilos of gold, but it didn't happen. His father, Lucien, evokes a role of intermediary to help his son. He would have gone to Kinshasa (DRC), commissioned by Jean-Marc to buy gold which was to arrive in Brussels thanks to the complicity of a pilot. Finally, Vianney confirms its financial participation in companies and the payment of invoices. But for the angry questions, he evokes ordinary business relations between the cement sector and the gold sale.