Following the report of the French Anticorruption Agency (AFA), revealed by Mediapart in September and a report from the Anticor association, the justice system is investigating the management of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of Nice. Three different investigations were opened on November 30 for possible facts of “illegal taking of interests”, “favouritism” and “embezzlement”, indicated Xavier Bonhomme, public prosecutor of Nice.
Justice is questioning in particular the awarding of a public road contract for the port of Nice, managed by the CCI, to two companies belonging to Philippe Renaudi, then elected to the CCI. He is also president of the Union for Enterprise (UPE) 06, hence a suspicion of favoritism regarding the allocation of subsidies by the organization to this employers’ organization. Another investigation targets the management of the CCI, chaired by Jean-Pierre Savarino, and the use of a bank card to pay for personal expenses, such as the payment of a fine for speeding.
The ICC disputes these “allegations”
The ICC “contests the unfounded allegations of Anticor and remains calm about the outcome of the criminal proceedings”, she indicated, specifying that she “always expressed to the prosecutor its availability to provide him with all the elements relating to the investigation that he is carrying out”.
Philippe Renaudi argued that a recent decision of the administrative justice recognized his right, as simply elected to the CCI, to compete for calls for tenders from this body. As for the subsidies allocated to the UPE 06, according to him, these are “services which could only be carried out by our organization insofar as it was a question of communicating with our 10,000 members”.