The national financial prosecutor’s office confirmed on Thursday to have opened two judicial information. They follow the senatorial commission of inquiry which had highlighted the growing influence of consulting firms on state management.
by decoders and company service
“We have the impression that there are combins, this is false.” Questioned, March 27, 2022 on France 3, on the many contracts made by the State with consulting firms, Emmanuel Macron had been annoyed, explaining: “If there is evidence of manipulation, that it goes to criminal.” A premonitory word. The National Financial Public Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) confirmed, Thursday, November 24, by press release, information from Parisian : Justice is investigating the close relations maintained between the American consulting firm McKinsey and the power. And if the PNF does not specify it explicitly, it is the links of Emmanuel Macron with the cabinet, especially during its campaigns of 2017 and 2022, which are targeted.
Three surveys are underway, specifies the judicial institution: judicial information has been open since October 20 for “non -compliant holding of campaign accounts and minoration of accounting elements in a campaign account”, relating to ” Intervention conditions of consulting firms in the 2017 and 2022 “electoral campaigns”. A second judicial information relates to heads of “favoritism and concealment of favoritism”. These two procedures follow a preliminary investigation opened on March 31 against the American consulting firm, for “aggravated laundering and aggravated tax fraud”.
Justice was interested in McKinsey – who did not respond to our requests – following the work carried out by the Senate Commission of Inquiry on the role of consulting firms. State spending to request the services of these private organizations have more than doubled between 2018 and 2021, to exceed one billion euros, noted the report. He also revealed that the French branch of McKinsey, which benefits from many government contracts, has not paid any tax in France for ten years thanks to an advantageous tax assembly.
The Senate had seized justice in March, believing that the testimonies of McKinsey leaders before the Commission – they had assured to pay corporate tax – were false. The French headquarters of McKinsey was searched on May 24, as part of this investigation. At the same time, individuals and associations of victims of the COVVI-19 have multiplied complaints aimed at the management by the State of the health crisis, but also the US consulting firm, which has benefited from many markets related to the pandemic.
Obtaining many public contracts
These complaints and the investigation into McKinsey led investigators to also be interested in the links between the US consulting firm and the Head of State. In front of the senators, in February, Karim Tadjeddine, the boss of the public service branch of the American firm, had assured: “Our statutes prohibit us from working, for a fee or pro bono [for free], for organizations or political figures. We will never do it “.
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