Will a parliamentary commission of inquiry shed light on the circumstances of the fall of the Casino Group (Casino, Franprix, Monoprix, CDiscount, etc.)? In any case, this is the wish of three deputies from Les Républicains de la Loire who submitted a draft resolution to this effect on Monday January 8 with the President of the National Assembly. Objective of this initiative, “make full transparency about the “responsibilities” for the bankruptcy of the Casino group”indicates, in a press release, Jean-Pierre Taite, who is continuing this approach with Antoine Vermorel-Marques and Sylvie Bonnet.
Could certain safeguards have prevented the Saint-Etienne distributor from finding itself on the verge of a liquidity crisis, after having been buried under a mountain of debt? MEPs propose to“study the dysfunctions of the Market Authority and the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office”but also “take stock of possible abusive protections and support from banking establishments”. The draft resolution aims, finally, to learn the lessons of this discomfiture “in order to avoid future dismantling of historic national groups and its serious consequences on employment”.
“Many people who work at Casino would like to know what happened”pleads Mr. Taite, “this touches us all the more as the brand was the flagship of the Loire”. “Jean-Charles Naouri is accountable to employees and, for this, Parliament has a very important role to play, but the situation being fragile, this is not the time to open a parliamentary commission of inquiry, at the risk of scaring away buyers”warns, for his part, Quentin Bataillon, the Renaissance deputy for Saint-Etienne, where the group’s head office is located, who adds: “Furthermore, we must not forget that the object of a parliamentary commission of inquiry must be constitutional, and therefore respect the separation of powers, and that it is limited by what is already within the scope of the justice. However, several procedures are underway”.
The Paris Commercial Court has opened an accelerated safeguard procedure which ends on February 25, 2024. At its end, the takeover consortium led by Czech businessman Daniel Kretinsky plans to launch a capital increase which should give him 53.7% of the capital of Casino. A distributor with a reduced scope at Monoprix, Franprix and the Spar or Petit Casino convenience stores.
“Disastrous management of Jean-Charles Naouri”
You have 40% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.