A handful of heirs of the Guichard family, founders of the Casino, filed a complaint against the allegations consulted on Tuesday by AFP.
Six members of the Guichard family filed a “complaint against the complaint filed on Monday”, confirming a report from the newspaper Le Monde.
Another complaint filed the same day against X refers to “judicial fraud.” The plaintiffs question the terms of the safeguard procedure from which Rallye, the company through which Jean-Charles Naouri controls Casino, benefited in 2019 for a few more months.
Casino and Rallye complaints for defamation
Among the plaintiffs is Théodore Guichard, who chairs the Adosia association that brings together the descendants of the founding couple of the group that today finds itself in great economic difficulties. “Some will join the criminal action initiated by my uncle Xavier Kemlin,” he recently told AFP.
At the beginning of the year, two minority shareholders of Casino, including Xavier Kemlin, defended by the same lawyer as the six representatives of the Guichard family, Thomas Amico, filed a complaint for alleged similar events.
In return, Casino and Rallye filed defamation complaints against these two minority shareholders.
The first group, contacted on Tuesday by AFP, did not immediately react.
A preliminary investigation opened in 2020
In early March, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) indicated that Casino was the subject of a preliminary investigation since February 5, 2020 by the Financial Brigade for alleged acts of “price manipulation by organized gangs, private corruption active and passive.” and “insider trading committed during 2018 and 2019.”
Contacted on Tuesday by AFP, a judicial source indicated that “they have not received any recent complaint from the Guichard heirs or Xavier Kemlin.” “We had received several complaints from the latter between 2019 and 2021, which were attached to the Casino-Rally file,” a file “still in the summary process in the investigation service and (which) will be returned to the Prosecutor’s Office for summary and analysis.” . “.
At the end of this first analysis, the PNF will send the accused the crimes that it intends to take into account. Defense lawyers will then communicate their arguments before the PNF decides on closing the investigation or a trial in criminal court.
Source: BFM TV
