Vincent Bolloré, French tycoon who recently he abdicated the presidency of Vivendi, is being investigated for bribing foreign public officials. The news is confirmed by sources in the French press. The entry of the Breton entrepreneur in the register of suspects came after 36 hours of detention and interrogation by the anti-corruption police of Nanterre.
Bolloré he was stopped two days ago by the French judicial authorities as part of an investigation into an alleged episode of corruption that took place in some West African countries. The objective, according to the hypotheses of the investigators, was to ensure that the Bolloré logistics group obtained improved conditions for his group's operations in Togo and Guinea.
The thesis of the magistrates is that Havas, an advertising and communication company of the Bolloré group, has favored the election of African leaders close to the French businessman in Togo (Faure Gnassingbe) e in Guineaa (Alpha Condé) providing political marketing consultancy at unusually low prices. In return, Bolloré would get concessions on the ports of Lomé and Conakry, two of the 16 terminals managed by the Breton financier on the African coast.
The Bolloré group specifies in a note that the financier "remains presumed innocent" and "will finally be able to have access to this dossier of which he was never aware in order to respond to these unfounded accusations".
Furthermore, according to the group, "the link that some try to establish between obtaining concessions and communication operations is without any foundation and reveals a gross ignorance of the industrial sector".
Bolloré would have been informed for at least two weeks of the impending detention.
