Did Macron receive unauthorized help from a US consulting firm in the 2017 and 2022 election campaigns? France's judiciary is therefore conducting raids both in the offices of the President's Party and at McKinsey. The consultants are already being investigated for unpaid taxes.
France's judiciary has had the offices of his party and the US consulting firm McKinsey searched in the course of investigations into President Emmanuel Macron's election campaign financing. The searches were in connection with investigations initiated at the end of October into allegations of incorrect management of campaign accounts and allegations of favoritism and aiding and abetting, said the public prosecutor's office in Paris.
The focus is on whether Macron has illegally benefited from the services of the consulting firm, which has been under tax investigations in France since the spring. The investigation is about Macron's presidential election campaigns in 2017 and 2022. According to the public prosecutor's office, the Paris headquarters of McKinsey, the headquarters of Macron's Renaissance party and the headquarters of the association involved in financing the party were searched. The searches were carried out by coroners in the presence of investigators from the Paris Search Department.
In the course of the so-called McKinsey affair in France, it became known that the US company had not paid any taxes in the country for at least ten years. The company claimed to have complied with the law. The case also caused a stir before the presidential election in the spring because government spending on external advice had risen significantly during Macron's tenure. The judiciary is now investigating whether Macron received undisclosed support from McKinsey in his campaigns, which he should have included in his campaign finance balance sheet.
For reasons of equal opportunities, candidates' campaign costs in France are capped. Again and again, however, there are accusations that politicians are concealing expenditures or manipulated bills in order to cover up the fact that the budget has been exceeded. Furthermore, the judiciary wants to examine whether McKinsey was favored by the government when awarding contracts and Macron and his camp benefited from it in return. The newspaper "Le Monde" reported in the spring that McKinsey consultants and ex-consultants had been involved in Macron's 2017 election campaign and McKinsey employees had been given posts in Macron's party and ministries.
