Investigation after the dubious grant of 30 million euros in mortgage loans by a Strasbourg bank branch

The preliminary investigation was opened following "numerous loans (...) granted by the local Caisse du Crédit Mutuel Strasbourg-Gutenberg to several dozen civil societies created by members of (...) original families foreign, with a view to the acquisition of real estate ", indicates in a press release the specialized interregional jurisdiction (Jirs) of Nancy, confirming information from the regional daily Les Latest Nouvelles d'Alsace (DNA).

The investigation, entrusted to the research section of the gendarmerie of Strasbourg, will have to determine in particular "if false documents or fraudulent maneuvers were used to allow the granting of these loans by the banking establishment", adds Jirs.

Crédit Mutuel "lodged a complaint against X in November," a spokesperson for the mutual institution told AFP. The banking group "is not making any further comments due to the ongoing investigation."

It was during an internal investigation at the bank that "abnormal flows" were detected, a source familiar with the matter told AFP.

According to the same source, the disputed loans granted by the agency amount to 30 million euros.

The internal investigation in particular made it possible to determine that several individuals who had obtained credits were in fact linked by "a community of interests", evoking a possible "network of money laundering", according to the same source.

The Strasbourg agency questioned would have thus "granted 80 credits on the basis of fraudulent documents via a Strasbourg intermediary", write DNA, a newspaper also owned by Crédit Mutuel.

All the clients who obtained these loans came from this "same business owner", a sort of broker who brought the files of "turnkey" loan applications and who "had contracted with the fund" implicated, confirmed the source close to the file.

The internal investigation thus revealed that Romanian nationals from the same family "settled in France (...) would have used false documents to set up" credit files relating "to real estate projects, in particular in the Paris region. ", write the DNA again, according to which" disciplinary proceedings "were carried out" against the director and administrators of the fund ".

The governance of the incriminated fund has since been completely "renewed", according to the source familiar with the matter.