This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by Vincent Le Roy (
): LE DOSSIER VALMY (Thriller) : chapitre 26 (Troisième partie)
As my primary language is not English, there are probably some mistakes in my translation.
Remember that the person who speaks here is NOT me, Vincent Celier (
), but Vincent Le Roy (), a French guy.
Chapter 26: Forgery and use of forgery
In June 2007, the company is definitely on the ground. Of course, we had put money aside with the Germans, but concretely, we have nothing to do. There are some contacts from Japan or Russia, but the motivation is no longer there. The searches from the tax authorities was the last drop.
With Patrick, we did our calculations. We can still afford six months and then we will close the company permanently. He will have the number of trimesters to retire comfortably and I have already begun my own conversion. I go to Normandy two to three days a week. At Denis's place.
Everyone is benefiting. He is in the thick of everything and I need to learn, with my legendary ability to work. And as I learn quickly, I put back in order his cabinet in a few months. I attend the meetings as an assistant but concretely, I do everything: convocations, reports, and especially billing. Denis is delighted, the money is flowing again in his office. And I am ready to change my life. My opponents killed my company, but they will not have my skin!
In September 2007, I decided to entrust the fate of the French company to the Commercial Court of Amiens which as usual will be exceptional. It is Maître LAFARGE who is in charge of continuing and then liquidating the company. I prepared everything with my accountant. Everything is in line. She congratulates me in the mandatory interview with the director. And we evoke the olfactory memories, her from the Bay of Somme, me from my Brittany instead of talking about the company; she knows we have gone beyond our resources. She is admiring us even.
When you file for bankruptcy, scavengers have no limits. To begin with the URSAAFs who invent debts. They are very quickly put back in their place by the liquidator.
In any case, we had no choice. The prud'hommes have just decided: the two chemists who betrayed us have just won their case. 80,000 Euros each. What an ode to joy! The sums are due immediately whether we appeal or not. And so, in accounting terms, we can no longer deal with the liabilities that are due. We can close quietly.
In the end, all that suits me. My reconversion is in progress. With the agreement with the magistrates who find that this tutoring is effective and who tell Denis that I will soon receive my own missions.
In October 2007, I have to go to Quebec to answer the muscular interrogation planned by my opponents. And so I answer questions from Alex's lawyer. And here we are at the beginning of my story. Their lawyer asks the questions under the control of his client Alex, and I answer under the control of mine. The interrogation did not go as planned and we know they want to finish. My release is supposed to be soon. When suddenly, Alex's lawyer asks me to carefully examine Exhibit 1 of his introductory motion, that is, the basic assignment. He wishes to come back to this point and I do not understand the point because we have already talked about it a lot.
This is the document that I sent to Mathieu in May 2004 for him to read on the plane. Initially, nothing to say: it is indeed the document. I am simply surprised that the email accompanying it and saying "attention, it is no longer relevant but the technique is accurate" has been removed.
The lawyer insists. For the time being. He insists on the tables of numbers that were showing a brilliant future and he questions me to show that his client had believed in the numbers. Problem? Well yes problem. The tables at the end of the document are not those of May 2004 and for good reason. They were written with Alex in September 2004, when his decision to invest is already made. And as amply demonstrated, as they say over there!
Exhibit 1 is therefore a fake. It is a shameless montage of several documents. I had this document in my hands for a year and I have not seen the deception. Sincerely because I thought it was the original, so I did not pay attention. One year that all the procedures rely on a fake.
Tinkered for the circumstance, probably thinking that because of a lack of resources, we could not resist and so the forgery would go unnoticed. No, I'm still alive and I answer. And it is their lawyer in his attempt of making me confess that will allow me to discover the problem.
When one is wrong, the simplest is to make documents that do not exist. Both lawyers ask for a break. The clerk stops taking notes. My lawyer goes on:
We have a big problem here, counselor.
Yeah...
The big firm's lawyer is afraid and is turning to Alex. It must be understood that in Quebec, the lawyer is obliged to check the documents of his clients. Otherwise his responsibility is engaged. In France, this kind of detail is futile. The lawyer cannot be implicated, and the customer remains solely responsible for the communicated documents.
In France, it is Roman law that applies. "Avocat" (lawyer) is literally "ad vocare", the one who speaks for. As a consequence, the lawyer is not responsible for the comments of his client. Across the Atlantic, the system is different and their lawyer understands that he has produced a forgery. Him, from a big cabinet. He will have to make a statement to his insurance. The day ends on this major incident. The next day, the interrogation resumes. And from the outset, Alex's lawyer wants to release new documents.
Those that his client has really received. And which were printed during the night by Mathieu, proof that he still had at that time all the elements on the hard disks. My lawyer is clever and takes the opportunity to say:
- Counselor, I would like your client who is here to initial each of the sheets and authenticate the document.
What Alex ends up doing against his will. And here we are in the presence of a judicial admission! During the day, I send all the documents to the French lawyer of Amiens for an opinion. This is a forgery that has been produced before the courts of Amiens. The use is therefore also established. They can be attacked in criminal cases by direct summons. The rest of the interrogation is of no interest except for Alex's pleasure in annoying me. Instead of 15 days, I stay only 12 days and it suits me well to return sooner. I'm exhausted.
Back in France, I met the board of directors. The direct quote against Alex and Mathieu for forgery and false use is voted. The lawyer of Amiens has carte blanche and launches the procedures. A judgment will therefore take place in early 2008 in principle.
December 2007 we are there when the Canadian justice will propose to return before Christmas for a conciliation meeting. Our local lawyer tells us that we do not have much choice, and here I am back across the Atlantic with my Luxembourg lawyer this time, because if we have to find a transaction, it will be through the parent company in Luxembourg, the French subsidiary is under judicial supervision.
The conciliation meeting is scheduled for three days. It will only last a few hours. The judge is a very elegant woman, experienced too. She tells us the terms, she will not judge, she is just there to facilitate negotiations.
From the outset, Alex will scream:
- Madam Justice, if we do not assume that I am the victim, we stop everything.
The judge will try several times to convince him that we must not start with an a priori. She can try to explain to him, but he's mad. At break time, I go down to smoke. Mathieu too and he joined me on the forecourt. We are talking like two old friends. Everything and nothing. I know that if there had been only Mathieu, none of this would have happened. But the boss is his father, so he says nothing. And his father had decided he would have my skin!
At noon, the judge is exasperated. She cannot take it anymore and finds that there can be no conciliation. And the negotiation stops there. And I take the plane in the opposite direction. In two days, it's Christmas.
Continue to Chapter 27
Introduction
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6
Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12
Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18
Chapter 19 - Chapter 20 - Chapter 21 - Chapter 22 - Chapter 23 - Chapter 24
Chapter 25
