Consultants’ homes in Macron campaign funding probe raided
French authorities raid the homes of four senior McKinsey consultants in late January on suspicion of illegally assisting President Emmanuel Macron's election campaigns.
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French President Emmanuel Macron briefing reporters at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia (AFP)
French police agents raided the homes of four former top employees of the US consulting firm McKinsey to investigate the funding of French President Emmanuel Macron's 2017 presidential election campaign.
According to the publication, the searches took place on January 31 in Paris, and an "important" individual was among those whose homes were raided.
In November 2022, French prosecutors opened an inquiry into Macron, whose 2017 presidential campaign was reportedly illegally sponsored by McKinsey.
Three judges are reportedly investigating the case. First and foremost, they intend to investigate all conceivable relationships between the French leader and the US consulting firm. Prosecutors will investigate whether "favoritism" and "illegal election campaign financing" took place.
Investigators examined the offices of Macron's Renaissance party and McKinsey in Paris in December 2022 as part of the investigation.
Macron claimed that he learned about the probe through the media. The French President indicated that his 2017 campaign accounts have already been thoroughly scrutinized and that "no one has written or called" him in connection with the investigation.
Some McKinsey consultants are known to have worked as unpaid volunteers on Macron's victorious 2017 election campaign and prosecutors are thought to be probing whether this involved a hidden campaign expense.
Prosecutors are also looking into whether McKinsey enjoyed special access and treatment when winning lucrative contracts with the government.
Total spending on consulting firms reached more than a billion euros ($1.1 billion) last year, a figure frequently cited by Macron's opponents during his successful bid for a second term.
But the use of expensive foreign firms for strategic advice - dubbed "McKinseygate" by French media - shocked many French voters even as Macron has repeatedly defended the contracts.
France has strict rules on the financing of election campaigns and political parties, which have led to many convictions in recent decades.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy received a one-year prison sentence in September 2021 for illegal financing of his 2012 re-election bid.
