Some 800,000 euros would be in the balance. Two subsidiaries of the building and public works group Fayat, targeted by a preliminary investigation for tax evasion, were searched in early July, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) told AFP on Wednesday, confirming information from Mediapart.
The public works subsidiaries Razel-Bec – which participates in particular in the Greater Paris project – and FCAI purchasing, based in Saclay in Essonne, were searched on July 4, 2023 by the Service d’Enquêtes Judiciaux des Finances (SEJF), in the context of an investigation opened on February 3, 2022 for laundering aggravated tax fraud. The two subsidiaries are suspected of having participated in an illegal tax scheme, in connection with Mauritius.
Among the largest construction groups
This alleged arrangement is based on the artificial transfer of part of the profits from the purchase of heavy equipment intended for construction sites in Africa, to the Mauritian company Trade and Technical Services Limited (TTS), in order to benefit from lower taxes than in France, while TTS would be an empty shell.
Based in Bordeaux, the Fayat group, a specialist in road equipment, claims the place of “the leading independent French construction group”, behind the giants Bouygues, Vinci and Eiffage. Less known to the general public than the latter, Fayat is nonetheless associated with prestigious constructions such as the Opéra Bastille or the Musée d’Orsay. It weighs 5.3 billion euros in turnover, 37% of which is generated internationally, and employs nearly 23,000 people in 228 subsidiaries around the world.