This Wednesday, at the end of the afternoon, the Commercial Court of Lille pronounced the judicial liquidation of Camaïeu with a continuation of activity until Friday. A decision that falls like a chopper for the 2,700 employees while, a few hours before the hearing, there were some glimmers of hope.
“The court agrees with the administrators’ request and converts the receivership into liquidation,” announced the president of the court after a river hearing of more than three hours. At these words, the employees present in the room castigated Michel Ohayon, the businessman who owns the Bordeaux real estate finance company (FIB) of which the shareholder of Camaïeu, HPB, is a subsidiary. “You are a man of money, a politician”, “Our shareholder was you and you did nothing”, we could hear. “You are sour today and I forgive you. I am as appalled as you”, tried to answer the businessman who had bought the company just two years earlier.
The unions will sue the “responsible”
“The next step is the redundancy plan for the 2,700 employees which will be implemented by the administrator. He has three weeks to throw everyone out, ”explains Fyodor Rilov, the CGT lawyer. It remains to be seen with how much compensation the employees will leave. “From our side, we are going to attack the management of the company in court. Even the prosecution has recognized that the leaders were responsible for this rout, ”adds the lawyer. For him, it will not return their jobs to employees, but it will undoubtedly “improve their allowances”.
However, the outline of a solution had been formulated this Wednesday morning by the president of Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand. He said he was ready to “put money on the table” with the European Metropolis of Lille (MEL) if the State made “a gesture”. This gesture, Bercy did not agree to it more today than the day before, when he had refused the advance requested by the shareholder of Camaïeu. The CGT had also asked the court for a period of 15 days, arguing that “supplier partners” had agreed to enter the capital of the company without however specifying who and up to what amount.
So it’s over with Camaïeu which, according to the unions, will be sold by cutting. “Appealing the court’s decision would take months and it’s not suspensive anyway. The employees will be made redundant,” regrets Master Rivlov. “We weren’t helped, it’s a terrible mess”, cowardly, bitter, Chérif Lebgaa, FO delegate.