Unprecedented configuration, the prosecutor of the Republic of Lyon and the regional director of public finances of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes held a joint press conference, Thursday, January 20, to detail their system of fight against fraud – in particular against those with aid granted to companies in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. Their joint approach was also a way of signaling the strengthening of cooperation between their two administrations, in the face of the resurgence of scams linked to the health crisis.
According to Nicolas Jacquet and Laurent de Jekhowsky, nearly a hundred cases of solidarity fund fraud have been detected in the Lyon region in recent months. For the most part, these are alleged misrepresentations, which consist of misappropriating the financial aid to companies, put in place since March 2020.
“At the very beginning of the crisis, aid of 1,500 euros was easily obtained, within three days after sending a form to our services. We’ve occasionally seen some make multiple requests, changing settings in an attempt to go unnoticed. This phenomenon has grown with the development of more substantial, more complex aid,” explains M. de Jekhowsky. In the Rhône department, around one billion euros in aid from the solidarity fund for businesses has been distributed since the start of health confinements and periods of teleworking, which has affected 65,000 businesses.
“War” against fraudsters
According to the two senior officials, damages from fraud range on average from 10,000 to 100,000 euros. “A tiny minority sought to cheat. We target high-stakes cases and take care of them. In some cases, pharmacies have been created to divert aid,” emphasizes the director of public finances. “We have waged war on fraudsters. When trust is betrayed, the State must be able to detect them”, adds the prosecutor, Mr. Jacquet.
When the author of a fraud is identified, the tax administration applies the principle of the right to error and offers immediate reimbursement. At the slightest obstacle in bad faith, the tax services are no longer satisfied with article 40 of the code of criminal procedure, which makes it compulsory to report an offense to the public prosecutor’s office. The administration is now activating a criminal complaint, and the prosecution is mobilizing as a priority to trigger the judicial investigation, according to the system put in place. Thirty complaints of fraud to the solidarity fund were filed, and as many investigations activated during the year 2021.
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