An internal unit of the CFDT has decided to open an investigation following accusations of embezzlement, among others, within the Federal Highway Union (UFR), the union learned on Friday.
“Transport federation activists challenged the confederation through its ethics committee” and spoke of “the purchase of luxury vehicles and the creation of a company affiliated to the union,” Yvan Ricordeau, number 2 of the CFDT in which the UFR participates, told AFP.
According to Le Canard Enchaîné, the president of the UFR and the president of the General Federation of Transport and the Environment (FGTE-CFDT), which oversees the UFR, were driving luxury vehicles, valued at 146,000 euros each and 80,000 euros each. Only the most expensive one, a Mercedes AMG GT53, was returned, a source from the union federation told AFP, asking to remain anonymous.
Transfer of a company
Furthermore, according to the same source, a public limited company created in April 2021 by the two federations (UFR and FGTE) was transferred free of charge, in September of the same year, to four people, including the two presidents of the federations. “They transferred the shares to themselves, in their own name, without going to any union authority,” the anonymous source confesses.
The company’s objectives include, among others, “the sale, purchase, creation and manufacture of advertising and promotional material”, “consulting” or even “the publication of a periodical magazine” and “the promotion of FGTE and UFR- CFDT Structures”, according to its statutes.
“Significant sums”
On September 5, the CFDT ethics committee referred the thorny issue to the confederal organizing committee, which is authorized to study the matter. “The Confederal Organizing Committee met on Wednesday and Thursday (…) and decided to investigate and analyze what happened or is happening within the Federal Highway Union,” Yvan Ricordeau said, without specifying a time frame.
“There are facts reported which, if proven, are more than problematic and serious.” As for the amounts, the organization “will check whether the proposals are proven or not,” adds Yvan Ricordeau, for whom “we are talking about significant sums,” but not millions of euros, according to the first elements.
Source: BFM TV
