After a very complicated end to the season on a sporting level (the club narrowly avoided relegation to Ligue 2), FC Nantes’ off-season is very eventful. Thursday evening, the deputy general manager of the Canaries, Franck Kita, as well as “two people, including a players’ agent”, were indicted and placed under judicial supervision, announced the Rennes prosecutor’s office in a press release. The facts relate to transfers of players to FC Nantes between 2015 and 2018.
The three defendants were indicted, in particular heads of “money laundering, aggravated money laundering, laundering of tax evasion, exercise of the activity of sports agent without a valid licence”, writes the prosecutor Philippe Astruc. Also added “the illegal exercise of the activity of sports agent by a national of a Member State or party to the agreement on the European economic area and complicity, illegal exercise of the activity of sports agent by a national of ‘a State which is not a member of the European Union or not a party to the agreement on the European economic area and complicity’.
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According to the local press, in addition to Franck Kita, the two people indicted are Bakari Sanogo and Joaquim Batica, agents of certain Nantes players.
For his part, the owner of the club and father of Franck, Waldemar Kita, was also taken into custody on Wednesday. Released Wednesday at the end of the day, he “will be reconvened later”, specifies the prosecutor of Rennes. The French Football Federation (FFF) is a civil party in this case.
“Unauthorized Sports Agents”
Initially launched by the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, which then forwarded it to the French judicial authorities, the investigation highlighted in particular the fact that “the leaders of FC Nantes have had recurrent recourse, at least since 2015, to the employment of unauthorized sports agents by establishing contracts for sports agents and employment contracts for players under the guise of of nominees, both in the context of player transfer negotiations and in the context of the negotiation of player employment contracts »explains the press release.
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During the investigation, “several FC Nantes employees were heard in police custody, in addition to many witnesses, including players”.
“The investigations mainly focused on the analysis of contracts, bank accounts and financial flows, with exploitation of the numerous documents seized during the search. A laundering of major tax evasion would also have been brought to light against one of the protagonists”adds the prosecutor.
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On May 10, 2022, three days after Nantes’ coronation in the Coupe de France, three club officials had already been placed in police custody for several hours as part of an investigation into player transfers. The investigators were then interested in commissions paid to Bakari Sanogo during several transfers.
As part of this investigation, searches had previously been carried out in December 2020 at the club’s headquarters, at the Jonelière training center.