The French judiciary searched the Paris headquarters of the management consultancy McKinsey on Tuesday.

According to the financial prosecutor's office, there is a suspicion of money laundering in connection with serious tax evasion, reports the French daily Le Monde.

Tillman Neuscheler

Editor in Business.

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At the beginning of April, the public prosecutor's office - at that time without explicitly mentioning McKinsey's name - announced that it had initiated a preliminary investigation into suspected tax fraud, but the wording had already suggested that McKinsey was meant.

McKinsey confirms the visit of the French financial prosecutor's office to its Paris office on Tuesday: "McKinsey is fully cooperating with the French authorities, as has always been the case," the company said, but at the same time reiterated its previous position that "the applicable complies with French tax and social security regulations”.

McKinsey has been under pressure in France since mid-March.

In the run-up to the French presidential election, a nearly 400-page Senate report prepared under the leadership of the opposition Republicans criticized the sharp increase in consultant spending during Emmanuel Macron's tenure.

According to the report, consulting firms have too far-reaching influence on the government's decisions, and Macron has wasted taxpayers' money while serving his own interests.

attacks during the election campaign

Macron's rival Marine Le Pen tried to use public outrage over the consultant's spending to attack Macron shortly before the election.

The report also said at the time that McKinsey had set up a tax structure in France that allowed them to avoid paying corporate tax between 2011 and 2020.

McKinsey sees itself wrongly pilloried.

Corporate tax was paid for six years through the Orphoz subsidiary.

All McKinsey units in France together paid more than 422 million euros in taxes and social security contributions in the period in question, which corresponds to almost 20 percent of sales.

Contrary to what has been publicly reported, McKinsey also only accounts for one percent of the French state's consulting expenditure.

However, the opposition was not satisfied with McKinsey's statements.

Without further information on McKinsey's exact profit and turnover, the reference was a "cheat", said the Republican Arnaud Bazin at the beginning of April, under whose leadership the Senate report was prepared.

It is now up to the judiciary