Gabriel Attal in the US to talk about tax fraud
Gabriel Attal was on a trip to the United States until February 28th to improve “the transfer of information”, particularly with regard to tax fraud. The French Minister of Public Accounts said he wanted to “tackle tax, social and customs fraud” and improve complementarity between Customs and border police. An anti-fraud strategy will be presented in the coming months. > Read article
Will Vincent Bolloré be judged for corruption in Togo?
After the refusal to homologate the CRPC negotiated with the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office for a fine of 375,000€, Vincent Bolloré has been referred to the Court for a “necessary” public trial. Vincent Bolloré who still denies the commission of acts of corruption in Togo for the award of the management of the port of Lomé for which he was indicted in 2018, is contesting his referral to the court particularly on the grounds that his presumption of innocence has been violated. The French billionaire is requesting the cancellation of the procedure on the basis that the CRPC procedure during which he admitted his guilt, has been included to the investigation file. The investigation chamber will rule on March 21st, 2023. > Read article
Japan: corruption scandals linked with the 2020 Olympics rise to the surface
Six Japanese companies, including Dentsu, the country’s largest advertising agency, are being prosecuted for anti-competitive practices and corruption related to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Three businessmen and a senior official of the organizing committee have already been arrested on suspicion of rigging bids related to the event. Haruyuki Takahashi, a former Dentsu executive, is particularly targeted by the investigations as he is accused of having received bribes from several companies to become a sponsor and obtain marketing rights for the Olympics. > Read article
Anti-money laundering: “States do not want to be accused of not having done what was necessary in case of a scandal.”
On February 28, 2023, the ECB spoke of the future European Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), which will allow a unified approach in terms of prevention, a better efficiency of the banking system and will give Europe an international weight. To achieve this, the AMLA will require the appropriate legal and human resources, particularly given the scale of the data processing requirements . > Read article
FLASH: the French urgent applications judge decides on TotalEnergies’ vigilance duty
The French urgent applications judge rejected an application by associations against a TotalEnergies project in Uganda on the basis of the duty of vigilance, considering that the proceedings should be taken to the merits. The plaintiffs asked the judge to require TotalEnergies to update its due diligence plan, risk mapping and its risk mitigation or prevention measures and to suspend the project. This first ruling on vigilance duty sets out guidelines for future proceedings. > Read article
