Scientology and work don't mix.
Four people have been indicted, in particular for moral harassment or bankruptcy, in the case of the company Arcadia (based in the Yvelines), accused by former employees of having allowed themselves to be "infiltrated" by Scientologists, a- we learned from sources familiar with the matter this Friday.
These indictments, which concern the boss of the company, two auditors and a consultant, were pronounced between October and March last and are the first in this eight-year-old affair.
All four contest the charges, committed between 2013 and 2015, when they were all Scientologists.
Psychological subjection and bankruptcy
In a June 2014 complaint, a dozen employees of Arcadia, a company specializing in the development of attics based in Voisins-le-Bretonneux (Yvelines), south-west of Paris, believed that the management of their company had been "infiltrated" by Scientologists to "loot it financially".
In particular, they claimed to have been forced to follow training courses provided by Scientologists and to undergo “psychological subjection”.
On June 30, 2014, the company went into insolvency.
A preliminary investigation was opened in Versailles in July 2014, then an investigation in August 2015.
Read alsoScientology suspected of infiltrating a Yvelines company
Last January, the boss of Arcadia was indicted for "moral harassment", "complicity in bankruptcy" and "misuse of corporate assets".
The investigating judge interrogated him in particular on the use of concepts of the Church of Scientology within his company and on the heavy bills paid to auditors while Arcadia's financial situation worsened.
“My client has two enemies in this case,” defended his lawyer, Me Marc Bensimhon.
On the one hand, “the twelve employees” complainants who had, according to him, “fomented the idea of bringing down the company”.
On the other, the two auditors who “looted the company” and fooled its boss, he added.
Contacted, the lawyer for the former complainant employees, Me Olivier Morice, did not wish to comment.
For Noémie Saidi-Cottier, lawyer for the financial auditor indicted in October for "bankruptcy", "abuse of social assets" and "moral harassment", this case is based on "an instrumentalization of Scientology" while the case rather falls under the "conflict about the takeover of a company" between employees and boss.