A long-term investigation by the specialized interregional jurisdiction (Jirs) of Lille has revealed a vast system of fraud within the wine-growing community of Champagne, we learned from the Lille prosecutor’s office. For several years, underpaid Bulgarian labor was exploited during the harvest.
It is not known precisely when the first suspicions of hidden work in the Champagne vineyards date back, but investigations have made it possible to determine that the system, dismantled on September 15, had been in place since 2017. According to the Lille prosecutor’s office, in the departments of the Aisne, the Aube and the Marne, “Bulgarian companies fraudulently detached underpaid labor, mainly at the time of the harvest in Champagne”, explains the prosecutor, Carole Etienne. And we are not talking about isolated reinforcements, the investigators assuring that, each season, “between 350 to 500 Bulgarian workers” were made available either to “agricultural service providers” or directly to the winegrowers for “an attractive cost”.
Social fraud represents “several million euros”
Besides the fact of underpaying the Bulgarian workers, the defendants did not pay any social contributions, neither in France, nor in Bulgaria. A loss estimated at “several million euros” for social organizations on the one hand, so many savings on the other allowing the winegrowers concerned “to be particularly competitive and to generate significant profits”.
The operation carried out by the Jirs de Lille on September 15 led to the placement in police custody of ten people, eight of whom were indicted, in particular for “offenses against illegal work” and “money laundering in an organized gang”. Three of them were remanded in custody and the others under judicial supervision.