Since the beginning of the controversy, the opposition has called for justice with insistence: in a press release, the national financial prosecutor indicated that after having read the report of the Senate commission of inquiry into the influence of the cabinets of private advice on public policies and carried out "verifications", his prosecutor's office had opened a preliminary investigation on March 31 for aggravated money laundering of tax evasion.

The investigations were entrusted to the Service of judicial investigations of finances (SEJF), a service of Bercy, specifies Jean-François Bohnert in this press release which does not mention the name of McKinsey.

The SEJF is a "fiscal police" service created in 2019 and placed under the supervision of the Ministry of Action and Public Accounts.

In a report submitted on March 16, the Senate commission of inquiry, initiated by the small group CRCE with a communist majority, assured that the contracts concluded by the State with consulting firms like McKinsey had "more than doubled" between 2018 and 2021, reaching a record amount of over €1 billion in 2021.

In the midst of the presidential campaign, the political opposition to the Head of State has since repeatedly demanded the opening of an investigation into what they consider to be favoritism which the Macronist majority would show for the benefit of this consulting firm. , some of whose members were able to work for Macronie, especially during the 2017 presidential election.

Emmanuel Macron in a France Inter studio on April 4, 2022 in Paris Ludovic MARIN AFP

The commission of inquiry also accused the French entities of the McKinsey firm of "tax optimization", such that they would not have paid any corporate tax between 2011 and 2020.

The senators had taken legal action for "suspicion of false testimony" against a McKinsey executive who had claimed that his firm paid corporate tax (IS) in France.

However, no investigation has been opened to date for this leader, according to a source familiar with the matter.

McKinsey had for its part affirmed to respect the French tax rules, specifying that one of its subsidiaries had paid corporation tax for six years over the period during which the Senate accuses it of tax optimization.

"MCKinseyGate"

"It was time", reacted to this "scandal" the candidate LR Valérie Pécresse, visiting the prison service for integration and probation of Nanterre.

"Finally", greeted the candidates Eric Zemmour, Fabien Roussel or Nicolas Dupont-Aignan on Twitter.

LR presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse during a meeting at Porte de Versailles, in Paris, April 3, 2022 Ludovic MARIN AFP

"But why aren't there still any on the possible conflicts of interest between E. Macron and the consulting firms? And on his heritage? "added the latter.

RN chief Jordan Bardella denounced a "state affair" and a "Macron-McKinsey government".

"The opening of this investigation confirms the rigor and seriousness of the work of the commission of inquiry", welcomed its president LR Arnaud Bazin, and its rapporteur CRCE, Eliane Assassi.

The affair has become a "band-aid" by the denunciations of the opposition, a majority official recognized at the end of March.

"If there is evidence of manipulation, let it go to the criminal court," Emmanuel Macron retorted on March 27 to those who blamed him for these numerous contracts.

The president-candidate had considered in particular that the non-payment of corporate tax by McKinsey was explained by the tax rules in force.

At the end of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, spokesman Gabriel Attal assured that the government "from the start called for the whole truth to be revealed about the tax practices of this consulting firm".

"And it is in this sense that from the month of December, a tax audit train was commissioned by the Ministry of Finance," he added.

The PNF's investigation "is part of this same line, this same approach (...). This consulting firm will pay what it has to pay", continued Mr. Attal.

Contacted by AFP, Bercy refused to comment on this procedure.

According to an article in La Lettre A, the verification of Bercy would relate to the two French entities of the American cabinet pinned by the Senate in its report.

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© 2022 AFP