Madivial trial in Fort-de-France: €4.7 million in EU funds allegedly misappropriated
The Madivial meat cooperative appears on Tuesday before the correctional court in Fort-de-France for alleged fraud involving European Union funds. The trial, postponed three times, concerns 4.776 million euros.
Madivial before the courts: millions of euros in European subsidies in question
The Madivial meat cooperative and its current and former managers are appearing on Tuesday 26 May before the correctional court in Fort-de-France, according to la1ere.franceinfo.fr. Two days of hearings are scheduled for a case that has already been postponed three times.
The court must determine whether those accused committed fraud by improperly receiving approximately 4.776 million euros in European Union funds between 2015 and 2018. Also appearing before the court is the whistleblower who had filed a complaint in 2017.
Originally scheduled for 27 November 2024, the trial was successively postponed to November 2025, then to May 2026. "There will be no further postponement," the court president had warned at the last hearing.
According to sources close to the investigation, the alleged fraud was based on deliberate overproduction of meat — particularly chicken — for the sole purpose of receiving subsidies. The scale of the scheme allegedly reached industrial proportions: approximately 2.5 million chickens were reportedly slaughtered and then simply discarded, equivalent to 10.5 million meals.
The investigation lasted six years, mobilised approximately one hundred interviews, and resulted in late 2024 with the seizure of assets belonging to the managers implicated.
Despite this judicial proceeding, the cooperative continues its activities and promotional campaigns. Only one element was supposed to cease: the silo built illegally on agricultural land, condemned for demolition under a separate procedure.
Source: Google News MQ — Crime