PARIS (Reuters) – The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office confirmed on Thursday the opening of two judicial inquiries in October for “non-compliant keeping of campaign accounts” and “favoritism and concealment of favouritism” on Emmanuel Macron’s two victorious electoral campaigns in 2017 and 2022, under the so-called “McKinsey” procedure.
After initially refusing to comment, the Presidency of the Republic said at the end of the day in a press release that it was up to the courts to conduct these investigations “in complete independence”.
“The Elysée has taken note of the communication from the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office concerning the opening of two judicial inquiries following in particular complaints from elected officials and associations”, can we read in the press release.
“It is up to the judiciary to conduct these investigations independently,” he adds.
The decisions of the PNF, revealed by Le Parisien, follow the preliminary investigation opened on March 31 by the prosecution of the head of “aggravated money laundering of aggravated tax fraud” against McKinsey, on the basis of the report of the commission of inquiry. of the Senate on the influence of private consulting firms on public policy.
In the line of sight, the American consulting firm McKinsey, whose report shows that it intervened in most of the major reforms of Emmanuel Macron’s first five-year term (2017-2022) and played a leading role with his entourage.
REPORTS AND COMPLAINTS
The commission of inquiry also criticized McKinsey for not paying corporate tax in France for at least 10 years, apparently via a practice of tax optimization known as “transfer pricing”.
The senators noted that the use of consultants was a reality before the mandate of Emmanuel Macron, in particular under Nicolas Sarkozy, but that the place of these private firms in public decision-making had notably gained in importance since 2017.
The judges widened their investigations in October following “several reports and complaints from elected officials and individuals”, specifies Thursday the PNF in its press release.
Thus, on October 20, a judicial investigation was opened for “non-compliant keeping of campaign accounts and reduction of accounting elements in a campaign account, relating to the conditions of intervention of consulting firms in the 2017 election campaigns. and 2022”.
On October 21, information for “favoritism and concealment of favoritism” followed.
Asked by France 3 last March, during the presidential campaign, about the favoritism from which McKinsey would have benefited, Emmanuel Macron had declared: “We have the impression that there are tricks, it’s not true”.
“No contract is made in the Republic without respecting the rule of public procurement,” he said. “Whoever has proof that there is manipulation bring the contract into question in criminal proceedings”.
(Written by Sophie Louet, with Tangi Salaün, Elizabeth Pineau and Bertrand Boucey, edited by Blandine Hénault and Kate Entringer)