Investigations into suspicions of illegal financing of Emmanuel Macron's election campaigns are continuing. Four searches were carried out at the end of January in France at the homes of leaders and former leaders of the consulting firm McKinsey, we learned on Friday from a source familiar with the matter, confirming information from the Parisian.
These searches were carried out as part of two judicial inquiries opened in October by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) for non-compliant keeping of campaign accounts and another for favoritism and concealment of favouritism. In December, it was the French headquarters of the consulting company and those of Emmanuel Macron's party, Renaissance, and of the Renaissance financing association which had been searched by the investigators.
Questioned by AFP, the PNF did not wish to confirm the four searches carried out on January 31 by the gendarmes of the research section (SR) of Paris.
During the last presidential campaign, a Senate report sparked heated controversy over the use of public funds for the benefit of consulting firms and the opposition called for an investigation into possible patronage McKinsey allegedly benefited from the majority. macronist.
The report also pointed to a possible tax arrangement for McKinsey's French entities, which would have allowed them to pay no corporate tax between 2011 and 2020.
On March 31, the PNF opened a preliminary investigation for aggravated money laundering of tax evasion to verify the merits of these latest accusations. As part of this investigation, a search had already been carried out at the firm's French headquarters on May 24.
According to Mediapart, some members of the McKinsey cabinet could have worked for free for Emmanuel Macron's victorious presidential campaign in 2017.
Asked in November about these suspicions, the head of state assured: "I fear nothing and [...] I believe that the heart of the investigation is not your servant. »
