A Béziers entrepreneur convicted of VAT fraud

Le tribunal de Béziers l'a condamné à 12 mois de prison aménageables et 20 000 € d’amende. Midi Libre

This boss of a public works company had to answer, before the Béziers court, for VAT fraud or even unjustified withdrawals of cash from his professional account.

A public works contractor from Béziers was prosecuted before the Béziers court for VAT fraud, but also for unjustified withdrawals of cash from his professional account. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, 20,000 euros; fine and ten years of exclusion from all public contracts and this with provisional execution. Even if he appeals his conviction, he cannot apply for a public contract. His father, a partner in the company, was sentenced to 10,000 € fined and banned from management and public procurement for ten years. The Ariconstruction company was ordered to pay evaded taxes amounting to €751,000.
In the financial arrangement of the company, the father was the legal manager. He left France in 2013 and no longer looked at the company's accounts.

"I took the money I needed"

The son, prosecuted for facts which extend over a period from 2014 to 2017, explained in court: "I had to manage everything. And if I took money from the company account, it was to pay myself a salary. I took the money I needed (175,000 euros). I made no mistake. It was the accountant who was not doing his job properly. And what's more, I still had a lot of unpaid debts."

His explanations remain unclear regarding the years 2015-2020. He paid himself no salary, but still managed to buy real estate in Biterrois. "I didn't declare anything because I was in the middle of a depression." For the tax authorities who carried out the tax audit: "What was done is enormous. He couldn't not have known that he was committing fraud."
The representative of the public prosecutor will request a sentence of 18 months of detention subject to change for the son and 12 months suspended sentence for the father. Both being excluded for ten years from any application for public contracts.
"He did not want to harm society and simply paid himself salaries, argued the defendants' lawyer. He confused his needs with those of his society. This issue has been given too much importance."