Macron faces inquiries over financing of campaigns
Prosecutors investigate president’s election team for use of consulting firms as ‘Mckinsey Affair’ widens
EMMANUEL MACRON’S election campaign is reportedly being investigated by France’s financial prosecutor over the use of management consulting firms.
Although a statement from the National Financial Prosecutors’ Office did not name the president’s campaign specifically, his election team is thought to be the main subject of two separate inquiries.
In March a senate investigation found that public spending for consultants had more than doubled from 2018-21, during Mr Macron’s first term.
Total outlays reached more than €1billion (£860million) last year, a figure frequently cited by the president’s opponents during his successful bid for a second term this April.
An Elysée Palace official said it “has been made aware of the communication from the financial prosecutor’s office concerning the opening of two judicial inquiries... It is up to the justice system to lead investigations in all independence.”
The prosecutors’ office said that two inquiries had been under way since last month into the use of consultants during the 2017 and 2022 elections.
They will look into charges relating to possible false election campaign accounting and underestimating campaign spending, as well as possible favouritism and conspiracy in favouritism.
Prosecutors said in a written statement they wanted to bring clarification after the newspaper Le Parisien reported that an investigation was under way regarding Mr Macron’s 2017 campaign and its links to Mckinsey & Company, the US consulting firm.
The prosecutors’ statement, without citing the president or his party, said a judicial inquiry was opened on Oct 20 into alleged “inconsistent campaign accounts” and “reduction of accounting items” in relation to consulting companies operating during the 2017 and 2022 elections.
The next day, another investigation was opened over alleged favouritism in relation to those campaigns, it said.
Le Parisien, citing anonymous sources, said magistrates were focusing on the conditions under which some contracts between Mckinsey and the state were concluded after Mr Macron’s election.
Mckinsey’s representatives in France would not comment on the investigation.
The inquiry follows another opened in March this year by financial prosecutors into suspected tax fraud by Mckinsey. The company said at the time that it “respects French tax rules that apply to it”.
Mr Macron said at the time that he was “shocked” by the suspicion of tax evasion on the part of consulting firms.
The so-called “Mckinsey Affair” prompted criticism from Mr Macron’s rivals in the run-up to France’s presidential election that led to his winning a second term in April.
France has strict rules on campaign financing that place limits on what a candidate is allowed to use.
For the 2022 election, each candidate had a maximum of €16.8 million for the first round and €22.5million for the second.
Several politicians have been convicted over the years for overspending or attempting to disguise campaign spending, including Jacques Chirac, the late former president.
Nicolas Sarkozy, his fellow Rightwing ex-president, received a one-year prison sentence in September last year for illegal financing of his 2012 re-election bid. Judges concluded he had spent nearly twice the legal limit on his failed campaign. He has appealed.