One-year suspended prison sentence requested against current leader and predecessor

Julien Huck, general secretary of the FNAF-CGT, in 2021.

The downpour fell on them for a good fifteen minutes. A hail of harsh words that left them mortified. In front of the 15e correctional chamber of the Bobigny court (Seine-Saint-Denis), seven managers and former managers of the National Agri-Food and Forestry Federation (FNAF) of the CGT are vehemently accosted by the lawyer for the civil party. On this Friday, September 20 – the second and final day of the trial –, Mr.e Cédric Alépée portrays the defendants as a “family clan” within which “the dad, the son, the daughter-in-law” arrange to serve “their interests”.

He accuses them of being the cause of “mafia excesses” and to have “trusted” the command of their organization because “the soup was good”In the courtroom, where they came in very large numbers, the comrades of the accused, including Philippe Martinez – number one of the CGT until March 2023 –, witnessed the punishment, containing their anger aroused by the spectacle.

This very aggressive charge targets, in particular, Alfred Huck and his son, Julien. The former was the general secretary of the FNAF for more than twenty years, the latter now holds this position. They are being tried at the same time as five other people, exercising or having exercised responsibilities within the federation. Among them, Jocelyne Hacquemand, Alfred Huck’s wife, and Diane Grandchamp, Julien’s partner. The defendants are being prosecuted for breach of trust or receiving stolen goods; two of them are also accused of money laundering. An embarrassing story for the CGT, likely, what’s more, to revive suspicions about the opacity of the funds managed by social actors at a time when this type of controversy was gradually tending to die down.

It all started with a letter sent in June 2018 to the Bobigny public prosecutor’s office by Johnny Neto. A member of one of the highest bodies of the FNAF, he reported practices which, he wrote, offended his “militant conception of class unionism”The letter indicates – among other things – that leaders or former leaders of the organization are taking advantage of unfounded financial largesse. It also highlights the coexistence of associations around the FNAF allowing “keep the money moving” in a non-transparent manner. Mr. Neto said that he had been dismissed from his position as an employee at the federation a few weeks earlier because, according to him, the Hucks and their close guard had had enough of his embarrassing remarks about the incriminated practices. He filed a civil suit.

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