#Bastille Day Newsletter:

For the past nine years, Navacelle has been publishing a newsletter, reviewing major legal events of the past year in France in the firm’s main practices. This year, the team if offering an overview of the latest developments in white collar crime, litigation & regulatory investigations, environmental law & duty of care, ethics & compliance and arbitration. With the multiplication of standards relating to corporate liability, the growing intervention of politicians in the economy and the development of regulators’ guidelines, the last 12 months have been rich in legal events. > Read publication

#Ethics and Compliance:

“Unprecedented decision”: French sawmill sentenced for illegal deforestation

Pierre Robert sawmill’s conviction for having illegally imported produced wood from Brazil has been upheld by the Court of Appeal of Bourges. The company was accused of violating European timber regulations (EUTR), which prohibits putting illegally harvested or trafficked timber on the market. The company was negligent in not properly verifying the origin of exotic wood imported from Brazil. The NGOs behind the complaint describe this as a landmark decision that strengthens the fight against deforestation. Greenpeace points out that this ruling demonstrates that negligence in supply chains is not acceptable. This decision is in conformity with the duty of vigilance, which places increases corporate responsibility regarding human and environmental rights. > Read article

United States: senator Menendez to face trial soon, accused of “large-scale corruption”

Since September, Senator Bob Menendez, his wife, and three other alleged accomplices have been facing around twenty charges, including corruption, influence peddling for the benefit of Egypt and Qatar, and acting as an agent of a foreign state. From the outset of the case, the couple was accused of accepting, between 2018 and 2022, bribes amounting to “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in exchange for Bob Menendez’s influence to “protect and enrich” three businessmen from New Jersey, the state he represents, and to support the Egyptian government. The twelve jurors could sentence him to twenty years in prison for these actions. > Read article

Suspicions of illegal financing: Marine Le Pen’s 2022 presidential campaign under investigation

Following a report by the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing (CNCCFP), Marine Le Pen’s 2022 presidential campaign, is under investigation for suspected illegal financing. On July 2, 2024, a judicial investigation was opened for “loans from a legal entity to a candidate in an electoral campaign, acceptance by a candidate of a loan from a legal entity, embezzlement by public officials, fraud against a public entity, forgery, and use of forgery.” Starting on September 30, Marine Le Pen, along with 24 other individuals and the National Rally (RN), will appear before the Paris Criminal Court. She is accused of embezzlement of public funds and complicity. Furthermore, in June, the Court of Cassation definitively upheld the RN’s conviction regarding the campaign kits used by the party’s candidates in the 2012 legislative elections, which had been reimbursed by the state. > Read article

#Criminal tax law: 

Legislative elections: new deputies, clients closely scrutinized by banks

Following the recent legislative elections, over 140 new deputies, mainly from the far-right and the New Popular Front, have become “politically exposed persons” (PEPs). PEPs will be subject to increased monitoring of their financial transactions by banks to prevent money laundering and corruption. This status requires detailed information on the origin of their funds, their assets, and the provision of associated supporting documents. Without timely submission, banks must freeze the accounts and transactions concerned. This extended surveillance, including PEPs’ close associates, is mandated by law and therefore does not constitute “an invasion of privacy”. The Cahuzac affair has heightened the importance of this vigilance by banks, which face sanctions for failing to detect a PEP. The upcoming European regulation, scheduled for July 2027, plans to broaden the definition of these persons, necessitating even greater attention in France, where there is no official PEP list. > Read article

#Banking, financial and financial market enforcement:

BNP Paribas fined three million euros in Luxembourg

The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), has severely sanctioned a Luxembourg subsidiary of the BNP Paribas group for failure to meet its obligations regarding the prevention of money laundering and funding of terrorism. On May 8, 2024, BGL, BNP Paribas’ Luxembourg subsidiary, was fined 3 million euros by the commission. The CSSF stated in a press release that it had “identified serious cases of breach of professional obligations” within the bank. These breaches concerned due diligence obligations regarding the transaction monitoring and tracing of funds to which all banking operators are subject. Among other things, the bank was accused of closing accounts without notifying the Financial Intelligence Unit, even though there was sufficient evidence to suspect money laundering. This new decision highlights the role of European regulators in the ongoing fight against money laundering and funding of terrorism. > Read article