Bernard Tapie is in turmoil. The Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office has announced that two homes of business man were searched, Wednesday March 17, 2021. Belgian and French police officers went to his home located in Saint-Tropez (Var) as well as to his mansion, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, as part of an investigation into possible tax fraud. With theAFP, spokesperson Wenke Roggen clarified that the investigations concern "an investigation opened at the Belgian federal prosecutor's office for possible financial offenses". According to information from Point reported on Friday, March 19, 2021, the arrival of investigators at Bernard Tapie's Parisian housing turned out to be particularly agitated. "Open or we break down the door", allegedly launched the police. And the former leader of Olympique de Marseille to retort: "Kill her if you want."
Once inside, investigators seized documents concerning the assets, management and accounts of a Luxembourg subsidiary of the Bernard Tapie group. Suffering from double cancer of the esophagus and stomach, the former owner of Adidas had to leave the premises to go to the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital. Back home, the tensions eased. The police officers, still present, announced to him that they would seize the data of his telephones and his personal computer. After explaining to them that this device contained prescriptions and the schedule of his next medical appointments, Stéphane Tapie's father was pleasantly surprised. "I want to underline the humanity and understanding of these policemen. They left with the material, copied what interested them, but in the evening my daughter was able to recover my computer ", he recognized in the columns of the Point.
Investigators "interested" by La Mandala, his Tropezian villa
According to information from the RTBF, "Belgian investigators from the central office for the fight against organized economic and financial crime (OCDEFO) and a federal magistrate are particularly interested in a villa in Saint-Tropez, called La Mandala ". Estimated at 60 million euros, this house is owned by South Real Estate Investment (SREI), whose parent company, GBT Holding, is owned by Bernard Tapie. While GBT Holding was put into compulsory liquidation by a court in Liège in December 2018, and SREI was declared bankrupt in September 2020, an investigation was opened for "suspicions of abuse of corporate assets and offenses linked to the state of bankruptcy", specify the RTBF. To be continued …
Read also : Bernard Tapie: his old yacht sinks after catching fire in unexplained circumstances