The General Electric (GE) site in Belfort was the subject of a new search, learned Agence France-Presse (AFP) from the management and the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), Tuesday, August 29. The American multinational is under investigation for laundering aggravated tax evasion.
“GE is cooperating fully with the authorities. GE complies with the laws in all countries where the company does business,” the group said in a statement. In an internal email sent to employees, management specifies that two of its sites are targeted: the TE05 and Bourogne buildings, in the Territoire de Belfort, which are about fifteen kilometers apart.
The judicial police officers “will visit the offices of the company, which is usual in the context of an investigation. We thank you for letting them carry out their investigation, ”announces the group to its employees in an internal email consulted by AFP.
In December 2022, initial investigations were carried out at the American industrial giant, in Belfort, as part of an investigation for laundering of aggravated tax evasion opened by the PNF following a report made by the national secretary of the PCF , Fabien Roussel, in July 2019, on “suspected optimization and tax evasion by General Electric” in Switzerland.
A financial package making Belfort a simple “contract manufacturing unit”
According to a source close to the investigation consulted by AFP, this investigation relates to the group’s transfer prices: financial flows from France to the parent company or other subsidiaries. The American multinational would have caused hundreds of millions of euros in profits to escape to Switzerland and the United States, in particular to the American state of Delaware, known for its advantageous taxation, through a financial arrangement making the factory of Belfort a simple “contract manufacturing unit” or “contractor” of Swiss subsidiaries of GE.
The Social and Economic Committee and the inter-union of the Belfort site had also filed a complaint which was attached to the investigation. She accuses the American company of having artificially reduced the profits of the Belfort site by this mechanism which does not respect the rules on transfer prices.
An investigation by the investigative media Disclose had also revealed that the American multinational had transferred up to 800 million euros in profits to Switzerland and the State of Delaware between 2015 and 2020.
