Bolloré HQ raided in corruption investigation

Authorities last week searched the head offices of France’s Bolloré Group as part of an investigation into whether the logistics provider and terminal operator acted improperly in securing port concessions in West Africa.    French authorities last week raided the office of Bolloré Group as part of an investigation into port concessions in West Africa.
   The Puteaux, France-based logistics provider and port terminal operator is under investigation for alleged links to Spanish casino and hotel firm Pefaco. Officials are also looking into whether Bolloré may have improperly used connections with its public relations subsidiary Havas to win West African port contracts.
   Bolloré, which has adamantly denied all charges, operates 14 container terminals in Africa, including facilities in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; Douala, Cameroon; Tema, Ghana; Lagos-Tincan, Nigeria; Libreville Owendo, Gabon; Pointe-Noire, Congo; and Cotonou, Benin, according to the company’s website.
   Authorities are specifically looking to see if Pefaco helped Bolloré win the concessions in Togo in 2010 and Guinea in 2011.
   “Groupe Bolloré firstly indicates that it has not had and does not have any relations with the company PEFACO and its management,” the firm said in a statement.
   “With respect to its port activities, Bolloré Group would like to stress that these are considerable investments, carried out in partnership with other large international groups. They represent commitments extending over many tens of years and for which they are selected, exclusively, according to the amount and technical qualities of the investments.”
   “The authorities want to know whether Havas helped us get port concessions. Let them investigate,” Bolloré lawyer Olivier Baratelli told the Associated Press in a telephone interview. “If you look at how we got the concessions in Togo and Guinea, it’s beyond reproach.”