trois à quatre mois avec sursis requis contre les frères Médeville en appel
“Considering that there is a manifest will of fraud, it is a conclusion that I cannot make”
This Wednesday, February 23, the two brothers, who have since resigned from their mandates, asked the Court of Appeal to review (downward) the judgment which had…
“Considering that there is a manifest will of fraud, it is a conclusion that I cannot make”
This Wednesday, February 23, the two brothers, who have since resigned from their mandates, asked the Court of Appeal to review (downward) the judgment which had sentenced them each to six months in prison suspended and 30,000 euros in fine, half of which is suspended. Their operating company had been fined 400,000 euros, half of which was suspended (the prosecution had requested 1 million).
” It’s terrifying “
It all started with a control of the wine brigade of the Regional Directorate for Business, Competition, Consumption, Labor and Employment (Direccte). The investigators had then noted a collection of practices which they considered irregular, deduced from an erratic traceability. Mysterious disappearance of 450 kilos of sugar, addition of sugar in vats not eligible for this practice, exceeding the authorized rates in another vat, practice of osmosis (removing water to increase the alcohol content) without prior declaration, blends of vintages… For the investigators, nearly 2,500 hectoliters violated various regulations.
“There is a distressing observation of a lack of rigor and which, on certain points, is voluntary”
“After our intervention, some of the wines were packaged and sold”, chokes at the helm the agent of the Direccte Jean-Philippe Daugas. “When I see the consequences that are drawn from a simple date error on a register, it’s terrifying”, notes for his part Jean Médeville. Mand Julie L’Hospital, for the National Institute of Origin and Quality (Inao), civil party, concedes that “the defendants have invested a lot” in the sector. But that “a lot of requirement was expected, or on the feeling that there were shortcomings and that they are trivialized”.
The Médevilles will perhaps only have to complain about the argument of the Fédération des grands vins. Saving sorrows for his writings, Mr.and Bienvenu prefers to plead “the disproportion of the trial judgment”. “Considering that there is a manifest intention of fraud, it is a conclusion that I cannot make. “And to bring the iron against the Direccte, which had retained among the litigious points the rosés of bleeding (produced from the extraction of part of a vat of red). “A practice accepted by all,” he believes.
Bulldozer investigation
Advocate General Marianne Poinot gives discharge for the bled rosés and agrees that the 450 kilos missing could be due to a simple error of dates on a register. It requires relaxation on these two points. “But there is a distressing observation of a lack of rigor and which, on certain points, is voluntary. “It can only be surprising given your experience as a winegrower and the institutions you represent,” continues the magistrate, who is asking for a three-month suspended sentence and confirmation of the fines.
“This file comes after an administrative investigation which operates like a bulldozer”, deplores Mand Gonthier, the defender of the two defendants. “Not everything is perfect. But 2016, the year of control, was a breaking year for them. We are far from the fat years, ”he explains before trying to drop some parts of the file, second opinion in support. “When the Direccte says that a tank was below the thresholds allowing chaptalisation, it does not take into account the margins of uncertainty imposed by European texts”, he assures us.
The court delivers its judgment on March 23.