French group Vinci summoned over forced labour accusations in Qatar

French group Vinci has denied accusations of forced labour and human trafficking in connection to its construction sites in Qatar, and says it will co-operate with courts investigating the matter.

FILE- In this April 23, 2019 file photo, workers leave their construction sites at the Msheireb Downtown Doha district in Doha, Qatar. AP - Kamran Jebreili

In a statement released this Monday, Vinci announced that its subsidiary – Vinci Constructions Grands Projets – had been summoned by a French court "with a view to possible indictment" as part of an investigation into working conditions on construction sites in Qatar.

The French daily Le Parisien reported Sunday that the summons would take place on Wednesday by an investigating judge in Nanterre, west of Paris. 

The company refutes accusations of "forced labour" and "human trafficking" which come just two weeks before the opening of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. 

"We tried in vain to convince the magistrate that after seven and half years of investigation it was not a particularly good time to imagine laying charges a fortnight before the start of the World Cup," Vinci lawyer Jean-Pierre Versini-Campinchi told AFP, adding that he feared a "media storm".

🔵 EXCLUSIF | Chantiers de la Coupe du monde au Qatar : le groupe Vinci accusé d’esclavagisme moderne

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— Le Parisien (@le_Parisien) November 6, 2022

Servitude and human trafficking

An investigation was opened in November 2015, after complaints from the associations Sherpa and Committee against Modern Slavery, as well as seven former Indian and Nepalese employees who worked on the building sites.

The complainants accuse Vinci, Vinci Construction Grands Projets (VCGP), its subsidiary Qatari Diar Vinci Construction (QDVC) and their representatives of "reduction to servitude, trafficking in human beings, work incompatible with human dignity, deliberate endangerment, unintentional injury and concealment."

In its statement, Vinci maintains it "has never ceased to vigorously refute the allegations made against it concerning the construction sites in Qatar carried out by the company QDVC" and "will continue to collaborate with the justice system."

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Vinci claims 'no link' to 2022 World Cup

According to the NGO Sherpa, Vinci's immigrant employees were working on World Cup sites for between 66 and 77 hours a week with their passports confiscated.

Sherpa says workers have been crammed into cramped rooms with inadequate sanitary facilities, receiving wages that bear no relation to the work they do and are threatened with dismissal or deportation if they make any demands.

For its part, Vinci says that none of the projects awarded to its subsidiaries were linked to the 2022 World Cup and were tendered before Qatar was chosen to host the competition.

The group maintains that the projects were essentially for "transport infrastructure."

Sherpa welcomed the possible deepening of the French investigation.

Under French law, being charged can be appealed and does not automatically mean the case will go to trial.

"If Vinci were to be charged, it would confirm that multinationals face increasing difficulties in hiding behind their supply chains, the idea that it's 'too complicated' to act," Sherpa said.