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Extra checks after 700 French businesses suspected of abusing coronavirus furlough schemes

The Local France
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Extra checks after 700 French businesses suspected of abusing coronavirus furlough schemes
French Labour Minister Elisabeth Borne. Photo: AFP

The French government will double efforts to crack down on misuse of the state unemployment scheme set up during the coronavirus, the Labour Minister said on Tuesday, after 700 businesses were found to be suspected of fraud.

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"We will be uncompromising with those who hijack the system," Elisabeth Borne said in an interview with RTL.

Of the first 25,000 checks, 700 businesses - 1,400 cases in total - were suspected of having misused the government scheme chômage partiel (partial unemployment), which saw millions of French receive state help during the coronavirus lockdown.

 

As the coronavirus crisis hit France with full force in March the government ramped up state aid to businesses, spending billions on state-schemes to prevent mass-layoffs and chain bankruptcies.

EXPLAINED: This is France's new plan to help workers and self-employed

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But some businesses seem to have abused the schemes. Of the 700 businesses being investigated for misconduct, Borne said some were suspected of having  forged identities of employees to get state funding while others were suspected of having asked their employees to work while on the scheme. 

An additional 50,000 checks will be done before the end of the summer, Borne said.

Any business found to have committed fraud faces up to two years of prison and up to €30,000 in fines, in addition to being excluded from state help schemes for five years and having to reimburse the money they received.

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Anonymous 2020/07/28 19:55
it will be difficult to check and recover monies. Surely a modicum of checking should have been made rather than , it would seem, simply trusting employers for the truth.

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