"If things were done in a hurry, they were done according to the rules."

This is the answer given by the Secretary of State in charge of digital Cédric O on Tuesday about the development of the StopCovid application, which has since become TousAntiCovid, which is the subject of an investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) for "favoritism" .

Cédric O disputed in

Le Parisien to

be "worried" after the announcement Friday by AFP of the opening of this investigation, which follows a report from June 2020 from the Anticor association.

“I guess we went fast because it saved lives.

And I am delighted that this is a sovereign project, which does not depend on Apple or Google, ”he insisted.

The PNF has been investigating since September

“The only interest pursued was the general interest.

I won't apologize for deploying StopCovid!

That being said, it is normal that if the justice asks questions, it can obtain all the answers ”, qualified this member of the government.

Sunday, on franceinfo, he had already underlined that "the bill" State of health emergency "allowed us to go much faster than a call for tenders which would have taken several months", and that moreover Outscale was the "only company" to "be labeled" to perform this type of mission with sufficient security.

Since September, the PNF has been investigating suspicions of favoritism for the benefit of a subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes, Outscale, responsible for maintaining the application, after Anticor reported in spring 2020.

In a letter sent to the public prosecutor's office in June 2020, the association estimated that the paid maintenance carried out by Outscale for the application should have been the subject of a call for tenders, in view of the amounts involved.

An app at 9 million euros, according to Cédric O

While a parliamentary report in November estimated the overall cost of this application at 6.5 million euros from the beginning of June to the end of October, Cédric O estimated Tuesday in

Le Parisien

that the application which has since become TousAntiCovid has cost "about 9 million euros all inclusive ”since its launch in June 2020.

"For such an application, it is very inexpensive, in particular because the companies that worked on the development did it for free: the German application is 20 million euros of development and 3 million euros. euros per month, for a similar efficiency ”, assures the Secretary of State.

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StopCovid: Anticor alerts the prosecution on suspicion of favoritism

  • Coronavirus

  • Covid 19

  • Society

  • StopCovid