The investigation began three years ago, after complaints from associations and seven ex-employees.
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Vinci Construction Grands Projets, the subsidiary of the French construction group Vinci, has been indicted as part of an investigationopened in December 2019, on working conditions on construction sites in Qatar, said the lawyer for the subsidiary Jean-Pierre Versini-Campinchi on Wednesday November 9 at franceinfo.
The Nanterre public prosecutor’s office detailed to France Inter the charges: “Obtaining the provision of services from a person in a situation of vulnerability or dependence, with unrelated compensation”, “submission to conditions of work or accommodation incompatible with dignity”, “reduction in servitude (forced labor committed in a habitual manner and with the aggravating circumstance of the plurality of victims).”
“Vinci Constructions Grands Projets will immediately file an appeal seeking to have the Versailles investigating chamber declare the nullity of this indictment”, adds the lawyer. The representative of the subsidiary denounces “the insufficient time granted to the lawyers to develop useful answers and the untimely choice of the date a few days before the opening of the Football World Cup”which begins November 20.
The construction group had announced that its subsidiary was summoned for an indictment on Monday, refuting all the charges, in particular of “forced labor” and “trafficking in human beings”.
The investigation began three years ago, after complaints from the Sherpa associations, the Committee against Modern Slavery and seven ex-employees. They accuse Vinci, Vinci Construction Grands Projets, its Qatari subsidiary Diar Vinci Construction and their representatives of reducing construction site employees in connection with the Football World Cup “in bondage” and in particular to make “trafficking in human beings”.