French retailer Auchan said on Sunday it was fully co-operating with the French justice authorities in a probe into business practices at its Russian arm.
“Auchan is a victim in the case and reserves the right to join the case as a civil party. The inquiry aims to clarify certain facts within the Russian subsidiary of Auchan but is not directed against Auchan itself,” said the company.
“Auchan has been fully co-operating for three years with the demands of the French justice department in this affair which, it must be recalled, revolves around an allegation of fraud and over-invoicing of products which Auchan Russia buys in Russia, and is therefore an exclusively a Russian matter,” it added.
French magazine Challenges and the Financial Times had earlier reported that the French financial prosecutor’s department had opened this probe into Auchan’s Russian arm. The French financial prosecutor’s department did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.
Last month, Auchan denied it was opening a new store in Russia and said it was instead re-branding an existing store.
The retailer is among one of the few Western companies that have chosen to maintain a presence in Russia ever since the war in Ukraine broke out in 2022.
Earlier in February, a video published by French news outlet Le Monde and Russian online newspaper The Insider revealed that Auchan Russia, along with other French retailers, has been supplying the Russian military through donations.
The company, however, has denied its responsibility in the matter, stating that it had no knowledge of the identity of the recipients.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)