Did Patrick Drahi serve his financial interests under the cover of philanthropic activities? This is the question posed the survey publishedFriday, October 4, by the Swiss magazine Heidi.newsas part of a series of articles based on confidential documents hacked a few months ago from the billionaire’s entourage by a cybercriminal group.
Heidi.news went behind the scenes of the Patrick and Lina Drahi Foundation, an organization created in Switzerland in 2016 by the telecom and media magnate (SFR, BFM-TV, etc.) and his wife to finance projects in science, education and the arts. Alongside the subsidies granted to several universities, hospitals and cultural projects, already known, new elements appear which question the non-profit vocation of the foundation.
According to the Swiss media, the foundation secretly paid the daughter of Patrick Drahi, up to 10,000 Swiss francs (about 10,120 euros) per month with a consultant contract, when she officially held the position of president at volunteer title. An internal email even suggests that his contract was backdated to justify the payment of these emoluments, which Mr. Drahi initially wanted to transfer to him in the form of a donation.
The tax exemption in question
Heidi.news also discovered that the foundation had directly funded Altice, the billionaire’s telecom and media group. According to the leaked documents, the charitable foundation has pledged to pay 100 million dollars (about 103 million euros) between 2019 and 2030 to the American branch of the group. In exchange, Altice USA agreed to produce a confidential program on entrepreneurship in Israel broadcast on the i24 News channel (also owned by Mr. Drahi). By financing his own business activities with his foundation’s money from tax-deductible donations, Mr. Drahi may have broken the rules that bind foundations, according to a tax expert interviewed by Heidi.news.
In light of these elements, Heidi.news wonders about the compatibility of Mr. Drahi’s foundation with the status of a non-profit organization, which gives the right to a total exemption from taxes on Swiss soil. Swiss tax doctrine provides that “ the possible profit motives which the members could pursue through related companies would be an obstacle to the exemption”. According to the documents consulted by the Swiss media, the Swiss supervisory authority has so far always validated the compliance of the foundation’s activities. The tax authorities of the canton of Valais have even granted him a preferential tax agreement, called “rescript”, which allows him to circumvent the obligation to devote at least 20% of his donations to Swiss projects.
Solicited by The world on information from Heidi.newsPatrick Drahi’s entourage refused to “comment on information whose possession, reproduction or transmission could be the subject of legal proceedings and take part in a process which would have the effect of consolidating and increasing the action of hackers”.
Update, October 4, 2022 at 10:50 a.m. : addition of the reaction of the entourage of Patrick Drahi.