Moroccan Transport Company Manager Charged with Fraud and Illegal Employment in France

The arrest of the Moroccan follows a judicial operation at the headquarters of a transport company based in Bain-de-Bretagne (south of Rennes), and on sites in Loire-Atlantique, on Monday, January 11, reports AFP. After being placed in police custody, he was referred to the Rennes public prosecutor’s office. The accused was then presented to the liberty and detention judge and "placed under judicial supervision, with a ban on leaving the national territory and engaging in any activity in the field of road freight transport," the prosecutor said in a statement.

Summoned to the Rennes Criminal Court on March 15, the manager will appear for "employment of foreigners without work permit", "aggravated fraud" and "undeclared work committed against several people". The magistrate specifies that he is suspected of having employed "42 people in an irregular situation on the national territory" and of having received "43,000 € in compensation under the partial activity scheme during the first lockdown period".

"He had claimed a near-total cessation of his activity while he was making new hires and his turnover was doubling," the prosecutor points out, noting that the first suspicions had emerged during the first lockdown period when a night road check (of) a luxury vehicle [...] driven by the manager had revealed that he did not have a residence permit."

The preliminary investigation revealed that 22 of these employees held false identity documents and that six others were subject to an obligation to leave the territory or to be deported. "Some of these drivers were housed in at least four different departments (Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine, Indre-et-Loire-Loire-Atlantique) in sometimes rudimentary conditions, by the transport company renting these accommodations," the prosecutor adds. The labor inspectorate had also reported fraud in the partial activity scheme.

During the placement in police custody of the accused, the investigators seized three bank accounts, a Mercedes GLE vehicle and twenty other vehicles, trucks and utility vehicles registered in the name of the company or the manager.