Justice does not let go of Waldemar Kita. The investigation into suspicions of tax fraud targeting the president of FC Nantes was entrusted at the end of September to an examining magistrate, AFP learned on Friday from sources familiar with the matter. According to this first source, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) on September 27, 2021 opened a judicial investigation in this case relating to suspicions of tax fraud, aggravated tax fraud and money laundering, which could augur a possible
indictment next. Contacted, the lawyers of Waldemar Kita, who has already been heard by investigators according to the source close to the case, did not respond.
The PNF confirmed in February 2019 that it had opened a preliminary investigation targeting the Franco-Polish businessman, which was allegedly opened in 2017 several months after an article in the World citing the name of Waldemar Kita in the Panama Papers case as a shareholder of offshore companies. Searches had taken place in the same month of February 2019 at the Canaries training center, at the Paris headquarters of Vivacy laboratories, which belong to Waldemar Kita, as well as at his home.
The French tax authorities injured by at least 15 million euros?
According to a December 2020 survey of Mediapart, Mediacities, The evening and By Standaard, citing a legal document, the president of FC Nantes is suspected of having “injured the French tax authorities by 14.8 million euros, only under the solidarity tax on wealth (ISF)”.
Waldemar Kita, very criticized by many supporters of the club, “has also touched, between 2010 and 2019, at least 70 million euros in Luxembourg, on which he paid no income tax in France, since he is a tax resident in Belgium ”, also assured these media. Criminal seizures were reportedly made, including a Parisian apartment and, temporarily, a yacht belonging to him.
Company in Belgium
The current leader of FC Nantes, who built his fortune on optics and then hyaluronic acid, acquired the Nantes football club in 2007. The club also saw his name appear as part of the “Football Leaks”. , via an article in the Belgian newspaper Echo at the end of 2016. The economic daily indicated that a large part of the club’s shares (over 99%) was held by a company based in Belgium, a maneuver which would aim to avoid taxes on capital gains realized on the sale. actions.
Another survey focuses on the regularity of certain FC Nantes transfers, another resounding subject of dispute with supporters and several former coaches.