The Covid Solidarity Fund has enabled many businesses to survive the crisis linked to the global Covid-19 pandemic. Emergency aid that scammers saw as a godsend. But the tax administration has doubled its vigilance to track down scams.
In early 2020, the entire planet was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. A health disaster but also an economic one, which hinders the activity of many sectors. In response, the President of the Republic immediately launched his strategy of “no matter what“to come to the aid of the most affected companies and individuals.
Among the helpers: the Covid Solidarity Fund, emergency financial support for businesses. In all, these are over 40 billion euros which have been awarded by the state. A great help for businesses, but also a goldmine for scammers. Near 70 million euros could be recovered with around 2,500 scammers across France.
“From March 2020 to June 2022, 149 million euros were paid to around 10,000 companies in Vienna. The aim was to help businesses as quickly as possibleremembers Mylène Orange-LouboutinPublic Finance Director of Vienna. However, the fight against fraud has also very quickly become a concern. “ In order to qualify for the aid, companies had to have completed a certain turnover in 2019. Some have taken advantage of this to inflate their results and thus deceive the tax authorities.
The requests, made directly online, resulted in a payment in three days, given the urgency of the situation. But not everyone has had access to this royal road, as explained Jean-Luc Nanot, the head of the Poitier corporate tax department, in charge of controlling the allocation of the Covid solidarity fund. “Companies declared their help request online and then computer filters were implemented, and thanks to artificial intelligence, we had a list of help requests to review locally. The service agents reviewed the files and individually recalled and requested supporting documents from the companies“, He explains. Thus, in the whole of France, 10 billion euros of fraud could be avoided.
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However, some companies have managed to escape the cracks despite the recovery data of the tax administration and work of investigators. Fraud up to 70 million already recovered nationwide by the tax administration. Thus, in Vienna, “Several dozen“The fraudulent practices were discovered retrospectively, as reported by the director of the public finance department. In Deux-Sèvres, about twenty scammers from the 7,200 companies supported by the Covid solidarity fund have been identified.
These are people who were in difficult financial situations, they were tempted to get funds in this way.
Arnaud Coche, lawyer of three people convicted of fraud at the Covid solidarity fund
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“Given the context, we were asked to go all the way with companies that weren’t playing“, Underlines Éric Bonnemaison, in the public finances of Deux-Sèvres. The scammers were systematically subjected to criminal charges. “We need to put the concept of fraud into perspectivetempera Éric Bonnemaison. This is a very small number compared to the number of grants awarded. There is the right to error, if it is recognized, it is not a fraud unlike those who refuse to answer us when we ask for details. Our priority is dialogue “.
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For these extreme cases, justice makes no gift. For the moment, two people have been sanctioned in Deux-Sèvres ehuit others in Vienne who received a trial truce despite acknowledging their intention to recover public money they could not claim. “These are people who were in difficult financial situations, they were tempted to obtain funds in this way, sometimes to relaunch their business, sometimes for personal expenses.“Explains Arnaud Coche, lawyer of three defendants in Poitiers.
His three clients owned a business that had gone out of business long before the pandemic crisis hit. “The idea came to him like this“, he says. But gray areas remain and ask the lawyer: “So you have to see if they came up with the idea on their own or if they were tempted by people who told them there was no risk and maybe they took a percentage of the deal. People who weren’t on trial.“
Arnaud auto “anticipate the intervention of third parties“With his three clients, but without being sure. “But why, if these people were tempted by others, didn’t they give their names? The question also arisesraises the lawyer.
According to Éric Bonnemaison, public finance officer of Deux-Sèvres, the fraud of the Covid solidarity fund was often the work of similar profiles: small businesses in complex financial situations. Vulnerable people who may have been instigated by others? Cases still pending trial for Covid solidarity fund fraud may provide some answers to these suspicions.
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