Éric Chevée is not only a public figure. The 60-year-old Chartrain, known for his political and trade union commitment, also president of Ceser (Regional Economic, Social and Environmental Council) in France, is also a business leader.
The former opposition municipal councilor in Chartres operates, among other things, Meubles Debray in Barjouville. In 2012, a tax audit made it possible to detect that, for a year and a half, he reduced his turnover on his monthly VAT returns. “It’s true”, he admits, this Monday, December 6, at the bar of the criminal court, before which he is being tried.
“It was the only way for me to find some cash. But I am not a fraudster. Unreported amounts due in VAT have been entered, under their actual wording, on the liabilities side of my annual balance sheets. “
Eric Chevée
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The business manager explains that he had lived through very difficult times after the 2008 crisis. “Business was going badly and the banks let me go, by deleting my overdrafts. They charged me very large bank charges. On average, 50,000 € of costs per year. “
Éric Chevée claims to have reinjected his savings, or € 40,000, into the company. His family donated more than € 150,000.
“I wanted to save the company”
“I wanted to save the business and the jobs. I certainly made mistakes. I even drastically reduced my salary. From 39,000 € per year, I went to 4,000 €. But I am not a fraudster. “
At the end of 2012, the company was placed in receivership and a settlement plan was established: “We are in the process of recovering. In four years, we will be out of it. »After several appeals, the tax debt amounts to € 131,000, plus penalties of the same amount.
“It’s a tax fraud”, assures the lawyer of the tax service. “That the sums due are entered in the liabilities of the balance sheets proves that he knew that his declarations were not in conformity. “
The public prosecutor draws up the same analysis: “It operates with working capital which belongs to the State. Whether he got richer or not, we don’t care! “
The prosecutor is demanding a six-month suspended prison sentence and a € 3,000 fine against Éric Chevée and a € 10,000 fine against the company. But it also asks that the court pronounce the solidarity between the entrepreneur and the company. In the event of default by the company, Éric Chevée would be liable for the debt on his own assets.
Requests that make Me Bruno Galy, defense lawyer react: “We tend to agree with the taxes and the public prosecutor on the amounts and the reduction of declarations. During all this period, he crossed a hostile forest, with brambles and snakes… Or rather bankers. “
According to the lawyer, “it is the bankers who live from this situation by preventing the company from paying its tax debts”. Bruno Galy specifies “that in five years, they invoiced 240,000 € to the various companies of Mr. Chevée. € 240,000 sucked off by Dracula bankers ”.
“When you want to save your company, your employees and your skin,” he continues, “you don’t necessarily make the right decisions”. For him, the intentional element “does not appear to be constituted”. Regarding the complaint of the tax administration, he puts forward a hypothesis: “She came to seek solidarity. I ask you not to say it. He asks for her to be released.
Éric Chevée was recognized guilty and sentenced to three months suspended prison sentence and a € 3,000 fine. The company is fined 10,000 €. No retained solidarity.
Jacques Joannopoulos
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