The number one of the Bourbon group, a specialist in maritime assistance to the offshore oil sector, Gaël Bodérès, was sentenced on July 12, 2024 by the French justice system to two years suspended prison sentence and three years banned from managing a company for bribing tax officials in three African countries.

The decision was rendered on July 12, 2024 by the Marseille Criminal Court, where the headquarters of the company specializing in maritime assistance for the offshore oil industry is located. This sentence follows accusations of bribing tax agents in three African countries: Cameroon, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea

The Marseille Criminal Court handed down its judgment this Friday morning.: 30 months suspended prison sentence for Christian Lefevre, former director general of Bourbon, 24 months for Gaël Bodénès and Laurent Renard, respectively number one and former deputy director.

The three members of the group's Executive Committee will also have to pay a fine of 80,000 euros each, for this case that broke out in 2012, when 250,000 dollars in cash were discovered by Marseille customs in the suitcase of Marc Cherqui, former tax director, returning from a mission in Nigeria.

In Cameroon, the investigation conducted by the French justice system revealed that bribes of 150,000 euros, or about 100 million CFA francs, were allegedly paid to two tax inspectors. These amounts would have been used to eliminate a tax debt of 11 million euros (7.2 billion CFA francs) owed by the French firm Bourbon