Placed under the intermediate status of assisted witness, the former head of Business France could avoid a trial in correctional.
The judges in charge of investigating Emmanuel Macron's controversial move to Las Vegas in 2016 have completed their investigations in this case where the Havas Paris agency is under investigation and a former head of Business France, then presided by Labor Minister Muriel Pénicaud.
Questioned in this procedure, the Minister was placed under the intermediate status of assisted witness, which removes for her the risk of a correctional trial. At the heart of this affair: a trip of the future president Emmanuel Macron, then Minister of the Economy, in January 2016 in Las Vegas to meet hundreds of French entrepreneurs during an evening at Consumer Electronics Show (CES), big -mess of technological innovation.
No recourse to competitive bidding
To set up this operation of more than 300,000 euros, in urgency and under the pressure of the minister's office, Business France, a public body dependent on Bercy, had entrusted it entirely to the agency Havas Paris, without resorting to the call for competition by the public procurement code for such sums.
Business France and Havas Paris were then bound by a framework contract which was specifically intended to support the first in its efforts to promote the economic attractiveness of France, explained Business France, which did not convince judges. This is a critical report from the Inspectorate General of Finance (IGF) sent by Bercy led the Paris prosecutor to open this investigation in March 2017, then entrusted in July to three magistrates instructors.