Investigators call for French former spy chief to face trial on fraud charges

Following ten years of criminal investigation, French legal officials have called for the trial of Bernard Squarcini, former head of the French internal security agency, and 10 others, on charges of abuse of office, fraud and complicity in breaches of professional and judicial secrecy.

Bernard Squarcini. Reuters

The case is centred on alleged links between the French national security services and private businesses, including the luxury goods retailer, LVMH.

In 2012 Bernard Squarcini was relieved of his duties as director general of the DGSI, the police agency responsible for internal security. President François Hollande sacked him, believing Squarcini to be too close to former head of state Nicolas Sarkozy.

Squarcini, whose professional nickname was The Shark, then founded a consulting firm, Kyrnos, offering business intelligence to clients including LVMH, a conglomerate of high-income companies.

LVMH incorporates the Louis Vuitton fashion label, Moët champagne and Hennessy brandy. The company is estimated to be worth more than 350 billion euros and is quoted in the top bracket of the Paris Stock Exchange. 

World's richest man questioned by police

Investigators suspect Squarcini used his ties to the police and other intelligence networks to access confidential information to the benefit of LVMH.

Squarcini was originally charged in 2016.

In 2021, prosecutors added new charges on the basis of suspicions that Squarcinin had spied on François Ruffin, then a journalist and film maker, now a member of the French parliament and part of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party.

At the time, Ruffin was working on a documentary about LVMH and its boss Bernard Arnault, the world's wealthiest individual.

The film, entitled "Merci Patron! (Thanks Boss!)," was a commercial success and won the French equivalent of an Oscar as best documentary of 2017. The revelation of the way in which the 14th richest company in the world treats some of its "minor" employees is, to say the best of it, unflattering.

Arnault himself has been interviewed as a witness in the case.

LVMH is not included in the list of the individuals or entities charged.

In late 2021, the company paid a fine of 10 million euros to settle a claim that it had hired Squarcini to spy on private citizens.