An investigation was opened by the financial prosecutor’s office against a Corsican businessman on February 16, 2023. Tanja Esser / stock.adobe.com
A Corsican businessman, who made his fortune in mining in Africa, is being investigated by the financial prosecutor’s office, in particular for aggravated tax evasion and laundering of corruption, AFP learned on Thursday February 16 from a judicial source, confirming information from France 3 Corse.
A preliminary investigation had been opened at the end of 2021 for aggravated tax evasion, laundering of corruption, laundering of aggravated tax evasion and presumption of money laundering, detailed to AFP the judicial source.
Foreign financial flows
The investigation was opened after a report from Tracfin (Bercy’s financial intelligence unit) concerning significant financial flows from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the United Arab Emirates for the benefit of this businessman and his entourage. through shell companies and nominees.
The investigations were entrusted to the territorial management of the judicial police in Ajaccio and to the Anti-corruption Office (Oclciff). One of the aspects of this investigation concerns the financial flows which would have been used in particular for the purchase of land on the Sanguinaires road, in Ajaccio, to build a large housing complex there. Searches were carried out in 2022 and at the end of January in Paris and Corsica, in particular in a construction company and at the town hall of Ajaccio, said the judicial source.
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As part of this real estate development, the town hall of Ajaccio had agreed to sell in 2018 a municipal plot classified as a natural area for the development of a parking lot. Seizures were made by the financial prosecutor’s office for several million euros, relating in particular to bank accounts and the land on the Sanguinaires road, said the judicial source. Due to this seizure, the real estate project was blocked. The businessman, who has not been a French resident since 2016, was heard by investigators in January 2022 during a stay in Corsica.
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