An investigation is opened into an investment fund that benefited Bpifrance employees

An investigation was opened into the illegal taking of interest following a report from the Court of Auditors on an investment fund that benefited 200 employees of the public bank Bpifrance, a judicial source indicated on Thursday, confirming Marianne’s information.

The preliminary investigation was opened on July 21 by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) and entrusted to the Anti-Corruption Office (OCLCIFF), this source stated.

The weekly Marianne discovered, in a report by the Court of Auditors on the activity of Bpifrance, that more than 200 employees of the public bank, including general director Nicolas Dufourcq, had “invested massively” in a fund called “Bpifrance 1 Companies.”

In this report, published on June 12, the Court of Auditors noted that the system raised “ethical questions.” He initially stated that “there was no crime,” but finally sent a report to the PNF on July 19.

Risky product

This BE1 fund, managed by the public bank, was launched in 2020 to allow “French people to more easily invest their savings in French companies”, within the framework of the Pacte law.

“Investors have doubled their investment in less than two and a half years, a profit of just over 100 million euros,” according to Marianne, who specifies that the entry price of this “mutual fund at risk” was set at 5,000 euros. .

Nicolas Dufourcq rejected the accusations in a post published in July on Linkedin, stating that “there was no illegal taking of interests, no privileged information and even less a betrayal.”

The fund constituted a “risk product” and Bpi employees did not benefit from “preferential conditions,” said the general director, specifying that the fund’s performance was “quite good, but lower” than what Marianne indicated.

Given the “reservations expressed by the shareholders”, Bpifrance prohibited, by individual letter, the members of the boards of directors, the members of the general management committee of Bpifrance and the members of the project team, from subscribing to the successor fund BE2 ” , he stated in July.

When asked, Bpifrance did not immediately comment.