The searches to which Lactalis was subject this Tuesday, February 6, were carried out as part of an investigation carried out by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office. The French multinational known for its dairy products is suspected of massive tax fraud.
Its headquarters located in Laval, in Mayenne, its offices in the Montparnasse tower in the heart of Paris, or even the private mansion of its CEO based in the 7th arrondissement of the capital. The Lactalis group was the subject of several searches this Tuesday, February 6, 2024. Searches carried out by the National Brigade for the Repression of Tax Delinquency, reports Le Monde according to which these large-scale operations would occur while the French multinational is suspected of massive tax fraud.
According to the evening daily, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office has opened a preliminary investigation for aggravated tax fraud and laundering of aggravated tax fraud. Concretely, the PNF is trying to determine whether the dairy giant managed to dodge “several hundred million euros” in taxes in France by transferring certain profits to its companies based in Luxembourg and Belgium. A source from Le Monde does not hesitate to mention “high-level, very ingenious and very sophisticated” montages.
Lactalis management assured that the procedure would concern “old facts”. But the evening daily argues for its part that they could well go back to a period extending from 2009 to 2020. As Le Monde further recalls, the investigation was initially launched in 2018. It then followed the revelations of various media including Mediacités, Les Jours and Mediapart.
