The headquarters of the organising committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has been searched by police in connection with an investigation into the misappropriation of public funds and favouritism. This comes as 10 previously undocumented workers take major companies behind the construction of Olympic sites to an industrial tribunal over accusations of exploitation.
France's National Financial Prosecutor's Office said on Tuesday that, along with the HQ of the Paris 2024 Olympics committee (Cojop), searches got underway at several other sites, including Solideo – the public body in charge of building and renovating Olympic infrastructure.
According to the prosecutors, the raids come after an investigation was opened in 2017 into "charges of misappropriation of public funds, favouritism and concealment of favouritism relating to several contracts awarded in particular by Cojop".
A second probe, launched in 2022, was opened amid further charges of favouritism relating to contracts awarded by Cojop and Solideo, following an audit by the French anti-corruption agency.
Earlier this Tuesday, Cojop underlined that "Paris 2024 is cooperating fully with investigators", without giving further details.
Le cabinet de la maire de Paris, Anne Hidalgo, a confirmé au journal Le Monde ces perquisitions matinales aux locaux du Cojop et de la Solideo en rapport avec des marchés passés par les deux entités.
— Anticiper ! 🏁 (@Sport_Web_I) June 20, 2023
La Solideo assure qu’elle « collabore pleinement avec les enquêteurs pour… pic.twitter.com/3FHXuGCXFY
'Exploitation' on Olympic construction sites
To compound the Olympic committee's woes, the raids came on the same day as 10 building site workers – who were previously undocumented – have taken several giants of France's construction industry to the Prud'hommes industrial tribunal in the northern Paris suburb of Bobigny, seeking "recognition" of their work and payment of back wages.
The workers – who are mainly from Mali and the DRC – have been protesting for several months that they were "exploited" on the construction sites, where they worked without employment contracts or pay slips.
According to CGT trade union representative Richard Bloch, the workers are demanding the "recognition of an employment contract and [for it to be] requalified as a full-time permanent contract."
The summons to appear before the industrial tribunal targets four construction giants – Vinci, Eiffage, Spie Batignolles and GCC – who are the main contractors for the Olympic sites, as well as eight subcontractors who directly employed the African workers.
The CGT union and the workers are also asking for the payment of arrears of unpaid wages, the recognition of "dismissal without real or serious cause" and for the project managers who engaged in the use of irregular workers to be held to account.
Dans la peau de l'info. Ce qu'il faut savoir des travailleurs sans papiers qui portent plainte contre Vinci, Eiffage, Spie Batignolles et GCChttps://t.co/qy1nmSfVPJ
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) June 20, 2023
'No better than Qatar'
Speaking to French media outlet FranceInfo, one of the workers compared the conditions to the infamous 2022 football World Cup construction sites in Qatar.
According to Moussa: "Everyone knew I had no work papers and it's Spie Batignolles who are in charge of the site. One day, my knee hurt and I asked my boss if I could take a day or two off. He said: 'If you're not here on Monday, take your things'. I had to keep working despite the suffering. France is no better than Qatar."
The workers also said they had to buy their own protective equipment.
The CGT union defending the workers, says the companies that gave the orders must be held responsible in accordance with France's labour code that requires them to monitor what happens on site.
"We were promised exemplary Olympic construction sites," the CGT's Richard Bloch said. "In the end, it's worse than anywhere, because there's a political imperative: the sites have to be delivered on time.
"So the companies are doing everything they can – legally or illegally – to deliver on time."
Subcontractors could 'vanish'
In March 2022, an inspection by Uracti – the labour inspection unit dedicated to combating illegal employment – identified for the first time, the presence of undocumented workers on the Paris 2024 Olympic sites.
But Solideo maintains that fewer than a hundred cases have been identified, despite 850 inspections.
For its part, the CGT estimates around a hundred workers are in this situation.
However, the CGT also maintains that by the time the case reaches the industrial tribunal in October, the subcontractors could simply vanish into thin air.
The Olympic Games will be held in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024, followed by the Paralympic Games from 28 August to 6 September.
