After its closure, the “Support for the family of the Nanterre policeman” kitty should be greatly reduced after the tax on donations has been levied. But justice could also prohibit the transfer of funds in favor of the peace officer who killed Nahel in Nanterre.
[Mis à jour le 6 juillet 2023 à 17h48] Nice windfall in sight for the French state? The kitty in favor of the family of the policeman who killed Nahel M. could potentially bring in 938,037 euros in taxes. This will be possible provided that the donation is not prohibited by the courts.
A judicial component for this collection has indeed been opened. Nahel’s relatives have filed a complaint with the Paris public prosecutor for “organized gang fraud, misappropriation of personal data processing and concealment of these crimes”, according to their lawyer Yassine Bouzrou. Jean Messiha is the subject of this complaint as the creator of this kitty.
This fundraiser closed on July 4 at midnight. €1,636,200 was collected in just five days. However, Maître Bouzrou considers, with the World, that this support for Eric Zemmour “publicly and falsely presented Nahel M. as a ‘multi-recidivist’ to criminalize him and create a movement of support for the police officer who fired”. In response, the far-right polemicist announced to file a complaint for defamation. On Twitter, he encourages participants in this kitty to follow his action.
I invite the 100,000 donors, who have been accused by Nahel’s family of being crooks in organized gangs, to file a complaint for defamation.
— Jean MESSIHA (@JeanMessiha) July 4, 2023
The Paris prosecutor’s office has not opened an investigation for the moment according to France info while he must also examine complaints from deputies Mathilde Panot and Arthur Delaporte. These deputies of La France Insoumise use the reason of the serious risk of disturbing public order to carry out their approach.
Questioned on this subject during questions to the government in the National Assembly, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, refuted any intervention by the executive in this affair: “It is up to justice and in particular to the tribunal de grande instance (TGI) to be able to close this kitty”, he said. The left of the hemicycle is campaigning for the abolition of this kitty, the amount of which blithely exceeds a similar campaign in favor of the mother of the young man of 17 who was killed.
Why will the policeman’s family have to pay taxes on this kitty?
Donation rights and GoFundMe platform fees should reduce a significant amount of this fundraising. According to tax lawyer Caroline Aupoix, with Challenges, “donations between third parties are subject to transfer duties of 60%, with some exceptions, such as associations authorized to receive donations for example. They are in principle due by the beneficiary of the donation, but there is a principle of solidarity tax between beneficiary and donor which allows the tax administration to choose whom it intends to adjust.” The family would thus owe 938,037 euros to the tax authorities if this right applies.
For GoFundMe fees, the site specifies its rates: 2.9% of all donations and 25 cents per transaction. According to the current kitty figures, around 85,000 donors have been identified, so the platform would recover €68,604, but a small part will be redistributed to payment services.
The fundraiser was a resounding success
The initial objective of 50,000 euros has been largely exploded. The amounts of the more than 76,000 donations are between 5 and 3,000 euros. More than 1.6 million euros were paid as part of a fundraiser entitled “Support for the family of the Nanterre policeman”. This initiative was set up by Jean Messiha, a far-right polemicist, in order to financially support the family of the policeman involved in the death of Nahel in Nanterre, in the Hauts-de-Seine. Initially, this support from Eric Zemmour during the presidential election of 2022, had launched a collection via the French platform Leetchi.
However, it was blocked a few hours later, which prompted him to turn to the American platform GoFundMe. This collection leads to the indignation of many political figures, who demand the closure of the kitty hosted on the American site, being shocked by this approach. Asked about the subject, Elisabeth Borne said that “it is not up to the government to decide whether or not there is a kitty, but up to justice”. “The fact that it was someone close to the extreme right who carried this kitty does not help to bring appeasement,” she added.
Faced with the controversy, the GoFundMe platform assured that it would not take the decision to close the kitty, judging it to be in accordance with its rules, because the funds “will be paid directly to the family in question. The family has been added as beneficiary and therefore the funds will be paid directly to them”. A brief description introduces this Fund raising : “Support for the family of the policeman of Nanterre, Florian.M who has done his job and who today pays a high price. Support him MASSIVELY and support our police forces! ” This last sentence constitutes the angle of attack of the opponents to this kitty because that could not respect the general conditions of the site. The world points out that GoFundMe “did not respond to” their requests on this “specific point”.
The American platform refuses to delete the kitty but regulates its use
If the conditions of use are therefore respected by Jean Messiha, the policeman’s family will not be able to use this kitty for legal fees in this case, because “the kitties whose funds will be used for the legal defense of a violent crime or pages containing hate speech are not allowed and will be removed,” according to Gofundme. In 2019, the yellow vest Christophe Dettinger, could not receive nearly 145,000 euros on Leetchi after hitting several police officers in Paris. The company reacted to the controversy by explaining that the kitty did not respect its general conditions of use which “prohibit any incitement to hatred or violence.”
The family of the imprisoned police officer will be able to use this money collected. But the law of July 29, 1881, article 40, indicates that “it is forbidden to open or publicly announce subscriptions for the purpose of compensating fines, costs and damages pronounced by judicial convictions, in matters criminal and correctional, under penalty of six months’ imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros, or one of these two penalties only”. In addition, Europe 1 underlines that if “justice has doubts about the purpose of this kitty, it can initiate requests for information from technical service providers who are required to keep the history for one year.” The funds will therefore be paid directly to the family and not strictly to the police officer in order to respect the rules of the platform.
A left-wing elected official wants the opening of criminal proceedings
This kitty can be compared to the one launched in favor of Nahel’s mother, the 17-year-old young man killed by Florian M. About 425,000 euros were raised thanks to more than 20,000 participants, amounts well below Jean Messiha’s pot. Many left-wing politicians and Internet users are moved by this situation. The hashtag #GofundmeComplice, where many users criticize the platform for hosting this fundraiser, is one of the main trends on Twitter.
According to information from FigaroArthur Delaporte, socialist deputy of Calvados, would have “seized justice under article 40 of the Code of criminal procedure for incitement to hatred, violence or discrimination”. The leader of LFI in the National Assembly, Mathilde Panot, sees this kitty as “an insult to those close to Nahel”, according to Release, when she took the same approach as MP Delaporte. Thomas Portes, La France insoumise deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis, evokes the collection as a “shame” and encourages the platform to stop the kitty because “otherwise you are an accomplice in the remuneration of a killer”. Eric Bothorel, Renaissance deputy for Côtes-d’Armor, believes that Jean Messiha is blowing “on the embers” because his gesture would be “a generator of riots”.
The prefect of police of Paris, Laurent Nunez, indicated “not to have any comments to make” on this controversy, at the microphone of BFM TV. The leader of the Republicans, Eric Ciotti, announced, on LCIthat he would not participate financially in this fundraiser but “that we support the family of a police officer who is also in a trial today, that does not seem shocking to me”
Nahel’s grandmother testified that she was “sick at heart” when she saw the success of Jean Messiha’s initiative, on the news channel continuously. “But he will be punished like everyone else. I trust justice,” she added. A second similar kitty, launched by the friendly bikers of 92, has collected more than 60,000 euros at present.