French industrialist Vincent Bolloré is set to appear before the Paris criminal court in December in the high-profile “African ports” case, facing charges of corruption of foreign public officials and aiding and abetting breach of trust.
The case centers on the 2010 presidential campaigns in Togo and Guinea, where investigators allege that subsidiaries of the Bolloré Group provided under-priced communication services to the campaigns of Faure Gnassingbé and Alpha Condé. In exchange, the group is suspected of securing control over two strategic West African ports: Lomé in Togo and Conakry in Guinea.
A coalition of NGOs across Togo, Guinea, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Cameroon, operating under the banner “Restitution for Africa,” has accused Bolloré and his group of improperly benefiting from port operations and allegedly laundering money through the sale of the company’s African logistics business.
The investigation dates back to 2013, leading to the 2018 indictment of Bolloré and two senior executives from Euro RSCG (now Havas), a former subsidiary of the group. In 2021, Bolloré admitted to certain facts in a proposed guilty-plea arrangement and accepted a €375,000 fine, but the Paris court rejected the deal, necessitating a full trial.
Bolloré’s African ports and logistics enterprise, sold off in 2022, operated in 20 countries, employing over 20,000 people and managing 16 ports alongside warehouses and transport hubs. Cyrille Bolloré, Vincent’s youngest son, took over as head of Bolloré Africa Logistics in 2019, succeeding his father.
The upcoming trial is expected to draw significant international attention, highlighting the scrutiny of corporate practices in Africa and the accountability of multinational conglomerates in dealings with foreign governments.
