According to French online investigative journal Mediapart.fr, which was founded in 2008 by the former editor-in-chief of Le Monde, some 40 player accounts belonging to French casino and poker operator Partouche Gaming France are under scrutiny by the French gambling authority ARJEL.
It is alleged that Partouche employees and/or associates were playing on Partouche’s web site and benefiting from unjustified rewards with disregard for a 2010 law that prohibits this practice.
Confidential documentation is alleged to have been seen by Mediapart, who said of the player accounts under investigation one belonged to Yohan Zenou (22) who has familial connections to Katy Zenou, a Partouche Gaming France board member, the subsidiary of Partouche Group that oversees the online operation.
Zenou’s player account, registered under the moniker YoZenou, is reported to have benefited from Euro 36 000 in tournament credits on a solitary Euro 175 account deposit of which Euro 27 500 is alleged to have been cashed to Zenou’s bank account.
It is thought that most of the 40 player accounts under investigation belong to employees of the Partouche Group including Patrick Partouche himself.
Mediapart said, without detailing its source, that an ARJEL security audit undertaken on the Partouche Group revealed several shortcomings related to “recording and traceability data” of which a three month period, dated December 20, 2012, was reportedly given to the company to rectify the identified issues. Apparently, Partouche also received a warning from the French Ministry of the Interior regarding the guarantee debacle on the group’s Partouche Poker Tour .