Air France's broken arms.
Tax evasion, dubious recruitment, shareholders flight, boss sacked. The methods of Pretory, charged with security on Air France flights, deserve the attention of the law .
By Cedric Mathiot, 28th November 2003 (Libération)
14th September 2001... Over and over again on TV screens, pictures of planes crashing into the twin towers.
For two days, panic and fear of flying emptied the planes. In full torment, Air France is the first company to put security guards on its flights. Pretory, American-financed private security company that already works for Air France gets the contract. Codename for the new recruits: "Suraf" ("Sûreté Air France"). In dark suits, armed with plastic handcuffs, their brief is to sit in business class behind the cockpit and prevent terrorist attacks. They are the French cousins of the "Sky Marshals" that the US government promised at the time to put in force on planes.
A little over 2 years later, the assessment of this operation, which should have reinforced the reputation for reliability of Air France, is deplorable. Pretory was put in receivership 17th November. Financially bled dry, it awaits a new owner and the outcome of the lawsuits involving it. For eighteen months, under cover of guaranteeing the safety/security of Air France passengers, Pretory had profited from an incredible passiveness of the company that thanks to the "Suraf" project put in place a system of tax evasion. Today, the muscle-men from Pretory, who in 2002 travelled up to 1000 flying hours daily (to the US, Middle East etc), rarely enter the cabins. They spend their time between industrial tribunals and the fraud squad who have called them one by one as witnesses. The founder of Pretory, Jacques Gaussens, has been fired. The majority shareholders have flown to the US. Posing as victims, they are denouncing an affair that is "way beyond Pretory's management".
Mercenaries and bodyguards.
Pierre, ex soldier turned bodyguard, was contacted 20 September 2001: "A relation rang me 'Pretory, a private company, is building a team to ensure security on board Air France flights'" . In the small world of security, the news got around fast. The majority of the troops (who reached nearly 200 agents at the height of the activity) were made up of mercenaries, bodyguards, ex-sportsmen or simply nightclub bouncers. Pierre did his first flight 2 days later. He has now built up more than 4000 flying hours on Air France flights. "At the start, there really was fear, a post-11-september effect, everyone was on edge. Then, fairly quickly, we were aware it was nonsense... We were not trained. We had to do outward and return flights, without stopovers and almost without sleep. Obviously, on the return flights, sometimes we slept".
It had to wait 6 months before the "surafs" were sent in pairs in order to take turns, more than a year before training was established. Another "suraf" says "Half the guys were serious and competent. But there were also shirkers, those who couldn't give a damn". A trainer agreed he left "horrified": "Some of them didn't speak French"... But overall it is the pay that is intriguing. The agents, working over the limit for hours for flying personnel, sometimes worked more than 200 hours a month. But the employees were only paid up to 15 hours by Pretory. The rest was paid by a sub-contractor company, via a bank transfer from a mysterious account, Navarac.
Pretory had already resorted to third-party companies for its ground-based operations for Air France since 1999 (baggage and passenger search etc), but in the case of the "surafs", the recourse to sub-contracting reached an unprecedented extent. Behind Navarac, registered in Tortola (in the British Virgin Islands, Antilles), several other front companies were identified. From an internal source, Pretory billed Air France about 30 euros per hour of flight, sub-contracting to two companies, Vortex and ATR, at 25 euros. These companies, which are associated with Pascal Jumel, ex-investigator of the bandit squad, condemned to 17 years prison for 8 armed robberies, then paid the employees 15 euros per hour, without deducting any charges. Where did the difference go? Who benefited? This went on for more than 18 months. In 2002 alone, the sums transferred to Vortex, based in Guernsey, reached 7 million euros.
Air France did not immediately this suspected robbery. However Joel Cathala, powerful and renowned director of security at Air France, knew the company well. Seconded from the upper ranks of the police, he was the witness at the marriage of the stockholders of Pretory, Raquel Velasco, a former stewardess with UTA, and Bill Buck, ex-US serviceman. This close relationship between the buyer and the subcontractor had already fed rumours about the security market at the heart of the national company. Even before the "surafs", an internal audit at Air France from 2000 suggested that the management of security could have "favoured certain companies"... Including Pretory. In 2002, the security company published business figures of more than 22 million euros, 80% of which was from the airline company. Questioned by Libération, Joel Cathala denied any favouritism.
It had to wait until December 2002 and the angry injunctions of the work inspector before Air France decided finally to react. The company demanded the management of Pretory to clean up. Three months later, in March 2003, one head fell, that of Jacques Gaussens, the founder of Pretory. Air France placed all responsibility for the setup upon him. For the shareholders, Buck promised a new beginning for Pretory. The 1st April, in a letter to Jean-Cyril Spinetta, the CEO of Air France, Buck, who recognised "the existence of an illicit and illegal sub-contracting system" put into place "to his knowledge", assured "everything will be done to give you full satisfaction and clear your name".
Two new directors were hired and plunged, according to them, "into the deep sh*t" of this business. The sub-contract was halted. Air France tried to clean up a bit. "Last April, Air France requested from us lists of the agents who had flown", said one of the new directors. "Out of about 120 surafs, 77 were unknown to the company, who therefore did not know who had been on its aeroplanes! After inquiries into their background, the management of security asked us to forbid about 30 of them from flight"...
Amongst these agents, some "had criminal records". Thus began the incredible revolt of the "club of 32" which says a lot about the atmosphere of amateurishness: for a month these "surafs" stirred up ill-feeling at the headquarters of Pretory. "We were threatened, surrounded. And when you see the size of these beasts, you're scared" said one of the current managers of the company. Panicked, the American shareholders called upon a "mediator" for help. Between May and June, an ex-legionnaire (who was armed) tried to calm the protestors, while four burly guards protected the headquarters. Finally, some of these "surafs" received several thousand euros in exchange for a signature promising that they would not sue Pretory.
4.4 million tax recovery.
However, the attempt to bring Pretory back into line appeared already doomed to failure. The end of subcontracting had increased costs: from April, the "suraf" project lost money. Processes filed by the industrial tribunal cost the company more than 2 million euros. Added to that, there are 4.4 million euros of recovered tax, from irregular bills to the sub-contractors. Worried by rumours of drained assets, the unions filed an injunction for access to the company accounts. Finally, Air France used Pretory less and less, arguing that the increased presence of armoured cockpits "allows us to reduce reliance on surafs". Unable to balance the accounts after eighteen months of fiddling, Pretory collapsed. At the end of July, the US shareholders left. A director said "They told us: 'we are going on vacation to the US. We'll return in August'"... They have never returned to France. On leaving, Bill Buck and Raquel Velasco forgot to reimburse Pretory, despite their promise, nearly 2.5 million euros transferred to a subsidiary, Thendic, managed by Raquel Velasco's brother. The unions viewed this as theft, knowing that Thendic had just been merged with a German company to make Genesi, an IT enterprise based in Luxembourg, directed by Bill Buck. The day after the announcement of Pretory going into receivership, Buck announced on the Internet the transfer of shares from Thendic to Genesi.
Questioned by Libération, Bill Buck did not want to explain. Posing as a victim of an "incredible business", he confirmed only that from the member when Pretory was put back in order, he had had to "fight against a system that didn't allow him to survive"... Pretory had until 31 December to find a new owner.
More than 500 employees' jobs are at risk, the majority on the ground; some have been employed right from the start, long before the millions of euros of the "suraf" project triggered the fall of the company. The preliminary enquiry is underway. Air France has refused to reply to our questions on the demise of their subcontractor.
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