Live – McKinsey case: The premises of the consulting firm in Paris and the headquarters of the Renaissance Presidential Majority Party are raided by gendarmes

2:32 PM .: Update on what we know

The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) said on Wednesday that raids were carried out on Tuesday at the Paris headquarters of consulting firm McKinsey and Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance Party and the Renaissance Finance Association.

The tests were conducted by trial judges as part of two judicial inquiries that began in October.

One of them concerns the consulting firms’ intervention in Emmanuel Macron’s 2017 and 2022 election campaigns, and the other concerns the government’s public use of these consultancies, according to sources close to the file.

“McKinsey confirms the conduct of visitation proceedings carried out by the investigating judge at McKinsey France’s headquarters in Paris on December 13”, the consulting firm pointed out in a press release, “to cooperate fully with the public authorities, as always. The case”.

“In a press release issued on November 24, the PNF indicated that following complaints from elected officials and associations, the PNF has opened a judicial investigation into the conditions for consulting firms to intervene in the 2017 and 2022 election campaigns”. Loïc Signor, spokesman for the revival to AFP.

“It is natural for the judiciary to conduct a free and independent investigation to shed light on this issue,” he said, adding, “The party is at the disposal of the judges to provide any useful information on the campaigns mentioned in the court. Their investigations.”

2:16 pm: “McKinsey confirms the December 13 visit to the McKinsey France headquarters in Paris, headed by the trial judge. The company is cooperating fully with the public authorities, as always”, continued the advisory cabinet reaction. Yesterday’s events.

1:46 pm: During the last presidential campaign, a Senate report on the use of public funds for the benefit of these companies sparked a fierce controversy and opposition parties called for an investigation into the support McKinsey may have gained from the majority.

The report also pointed to a possible tax arrangement for McKinsey’s French companies that would not allow them to pay corporate tax between 2011 and 2020.

On March 31, the PNF opened a preliminary investigation into aggravated money laundering of aggravated tax evasion to verify the merits of these latest allegations. As part of this investigation, the French headquarters were raided on May 24.

Then on October 20 and 21, the PNF handed over the judicial inquiry to the trial judges for keeping the campaign accounts in non-compliance, reducing the account elements in the campaign account, favoring the other and concealing the support.

1:23 pm: Step ParisianSearches were carried out yesterday morning at the Paris premises of consulting firm McKinsey, the headquarters of the presidential majority Renaissance Party and the premises of the Renaissance Finance Association. The searches were carried out by gendarmes of the Paris Research Unit, on a commission of three investigating judges from the Paris Financial Center.

For the record, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office opened two judicial investigations at the end of October, one “into the conditions of the intervention of consulting firms in the 2017 and 2022 election campaigns”, and the other pointed to suspicions of “the government”. Financial Public Prosecutor Jean-François Bohnert in a press release.