Six executives from the construction giant Vinci are summoned to court for modern slavery. Indian and Nepalese plaintiffs as well as the Sherpa association denounce forced labor during the football World Cup construction sites in Qatar.
“It’s the earthen pot versus the iron pot”but “we are very confident”, declared Thursday September 14 on franceinfo Ingrid Metton, associate lawyer at the Chango law firm in Paris, counsel for the Sherpa association and the 12 Indian and Nepalese plaintiffs. Six executives of the Vinci group have been summoned by the courts, some of whom are in police custody, franceinfo has learned. The construction giant is suspected of modern slavery during preparatory projects for the last football world championship in Qatar. Vinci’s lawyers reject the accusations and denounce “an empty folder”. According to the lawyer for the Sherpa association, “It’s a classic defense. Investigating judges will not indict the Vinci company solely on the basis of an empty file”she replies.
franceinfo: What do you say to Vinci’s defense?
Ingrid Metton : This is a classic defense. After five years of investigation, we have one of the largest French companies which has been indicted. You can well imagine that investigating judges are not going to indict the Vinci company solely on the basis of an empty file. There are a lot of material elements. The twelve plaintiffs provided very specific testimonies which were collected directly by a project manager from the Sherpa association in Qatar.
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How can you prove your words apart from the testimonies that you yourself have collected?
The courts only requested the hearing of my clients very recently. We are in a case of an international nature, it is extremely difficult. Judicial cooperation with certain countries, notably India and Nepal, is not going very well. In addition, we are coming out of a period of global pandemic and it was absolutely impossible to be able to plan a hearing and the arrival of my clients in France.
What exactly is “modern slavery”?
In reality, we are talking about violations of the Labor Code and we can talk about two main offenses which are forced labor and reduction into servitude. This means that people are forced to carry out work either without remuneration or with remuneration which is unrelated to the work provided. For example, working 70 hours a week in substandard working conditions, with extremely low pay. We speak of modern slavery when we are aware of the vulnerability or state of dependence of people. These are foreign workers, who come from countries where economic situations are extremely difficult.
“There have been testimonies saying that when they arrive in Qatar, their passports are confiscated.”
Ingrig Metton, lawyerfranceinfo
There really is a situation of vulnerability and extremely strong constraints. The current investigation aims to determine whether a French company could have been responsible for these facts or not.
Is it the Vinci subsidiary, 51% owned by the sovereign fund of Qatar, which is being targeted?
It is both the parent company and its subsidiary because the whole issue of the cases which are brought by the Sherpa association is to have the responsibility of the parent companies towards their subsidiaries which are established in foreign countries recognized. Can multinationals continue to make profits abroad without controlling what happens there and respecting the most fundamental human rights there?
Isn’t it a bit like the earthen pot versus the iron pot today?
It’s exactly the earthen pot versus the iron pot. There was a first investigation between 2015 and 2018, which was carried out by prosecutors who are unfortunately magistrates who, in France, are not independent. There have been very few acts of fact-finding. We wonder how an investigation could have been carried out for so long, with so little evidence. It led to a classification without further action. In reality, we lost three years. Now, fortunately, in France, there are magistrates who are independent, who can help restore a normal balance of power between an earthen pot and an iron pot. I won’t hide from you that we are very confident.