Emmanuel Macron election campaign probed by prosecutors, reports claim
Emmanuel Macron’s election campaign is reportedly being probed by France’s financial prosecutor over the use of management consulting firms.
Although a statement from the National Financial Prosecutors' Office did not name Macron's campaign specifically, his election team is thought to be the main target of two separate probes.
In March a senate investigation found that public spending for consultants had more than doubled from 2018-2021 during Mr Macron's first term.
Total outlays reached more than a billion ($1.1 billion) last year, a figure frequently cited by Mr Macron's opponents during his successful bid for a second term this April.
An Elysee 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."
Two probes underway into use of consultants
The prosecutors' office said that two probes had been underway since October into the use of consultants during the 2017 and 2022 elections.
They would 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 newspaper Le Parisien reported that investigation was underway regarding Mr Macron's 2017 campaign and its links to U.S. consulting company McKinsey & Company.
The prosecutors' statement, without citing Mr Macron or his party, said a judicial inquiry was opened October 20 about alleged "inconsistent campaign accounts" and "reduction of accounting items" in relation with consulting companies operating during electoral campaigns of 2017 and 2022.
The next day, another investigation was opened over alleged favouritism in relation to those campaigns, it said.
Macron campaign criticised over 'McKinsey Affair'
Le Parisien, citing anonymous sources, said magistrates are focusing on conditions under which some major contracts between McKinsey and the state were concluded after Mr Macron's election.
McKinsey representatives in France would not comment on the investigation.
The investigation follows another one opened in March this year by French 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 at the time said he was "shocked" by the suspicions of tax evasion on the part of consulting firms.
The so-called "McKinsey Affair" prompted criticism from Mr Macron's rivals ahead of 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 presidential election, each candidate had a maximum of €16.8 million for the first round and €22.5 million for the second.
Several French politicians have been convicted over the years for overspending or attempting to disguise campaign spending, including late former president Jacques Chirac.
Fellow ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy received a one-year prison sentence in September last year for illegal financing of his 2012 re-election bid.
Judges concluded that Sarkozy had spent nearly twice the legal limit on his failed bid for a second term.
He has appealed.
