The luxury group LVMH has reached an agreement with the Paris prosecutor’s office and will have to pay a fine of 10 million euros to avoid prosecution in the investigation into a spy system. In this case the former head of internal intelligence Bernard Squarcini would be involved. The Paris judicial court has just validated the agreement.
This agreement comes at a time when an investigation has focused since 2011 on the actions of the former head of internal intelligence Bernard Squarcini.
This investigation with drawers, which reveals the murky links between the police, the intelligence and the private interests, was widened two years ago after a complaint of the journalist and deputy François Ruffin and the newspaper Fakir.
In his complaint, the journalist denounced the surveillance to which he was allegedly subjected. This surveillance would have been organized by Squarcini at the request of LVMH during the filming of Thanks boss, a satirical film on the world leader in luxury, awarded the César for best documentary in 2017.
During a public hearing, the interested party called on the judge to refuse the agreement and asked for an admission of guilt from the multinational, which is not provided for in this type of agreement.
“ The main sponsor of this case comes out the back door », Regretted Master Alexandre Merdassi who represented François Ruffin and the Fakir association. The lawyer estimated that the check for 10 million euros had no dissuasive interest.