French prosecutors have opened their own preliminary probe into potential corruption linked to telecom group Altice, just months after the detainment of co-founder Armando Pereira and other business associates in Portugal, people familiar with the investigation said.

France’s Parquet National Financier is looking into suspicions of corruption of individuals who don’t hold public office, money laundering and attempts to conceal these offences, according to one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The investigation was opened in September, the person said.

The early probe shows scrutiny is spreading across the telecommunications group controlled by billionaire Patrick Drahi. In Portugal, a three-year investigation into alleged corruption, tax fraud and money laundering culminated last summer in the temporary detention of Pereira, the co-founder and former chief operating officer of Altice. He was released on a €10 million bail.

“Armando Pereira wants only one thing: for this investigation to move forward quickly and effectively,” his lawyer Jean Tamalet said. “He hopes to be heard so that his honour can be washed clean.” Tamalet said he wants Altice contracts with suppliers in France to be audited to see if Altice was penalised, whether they led to kickbacks and, if so, who benefitted from them.

An Altice spokesperson declined to comment. Altice has said it’s a victim of the alleged wrongdoings in Portugal and that it would collaborate with the judicial authorities.

Portuguese investigators looked at contracts with dozens of Altice’s suppliers in the country, but the probe questioned broader procurement practices, since some Portuguese suppliers also served Altice in France. Altice has suspended the contracts and completed internal audits in every region in which it operates, the company said last year.

Before spreading to France, the Portuguese probe led Altice to cut ties with its US head of procurement Yossi Benchetrit - Pereira’s son-in-law. Alexandre Fonseca, chairman of Altice USA, has also left the company, along with about ten other employees, the company said.

Pereira was detained along with two other Portuguese men who allegedly set up businesses that won supply contracts with Altice.

Portuguese prosecutors suspect that procurement decisions taken at Altice were rigged in a way that harmed the group’s own companies and competitors. 

Drahi founded Altice with Pereira and another partner in France in 2002 and expanded it through high-profile acquisitions of companies like French carrier SFR Group SA, and Suddenlink Communications and Cablevision Systems Corp in the US. Years of aggressive acquisitions fueled by cheap borrowing have saddled the businesses with more than US$60 billion of debt.

Set up in 2014 to tackle complex financial crimes, the Parquet National Financier or PNF has conducted investigations into corporate giants such as Google, McDonald’s Corp, UBS Group AG or Airbus SE and has extracted billions of dollars in fines.

  - Bloomberg