The McKinsey case: 5 questions to understand the accusations of Emmanuel Macron’s dealings with his consulting firm

What is McKinsey?

The American McKinsey consulting firm is nicknamed “The Firm”. For 100 years, this shadow company has provided strategy advice to CAC 40 CEOs, heads of state and ministers. One of his “famous” missions in France: the logistics of the Covid-19 vaccine in France. the role of society was revealed by Chained Duck especially. “Relying on the experience of the private sector is quite classic and consistent,” Olivier Veran answered the question about the benefit of turning to McKinsey in this case. The firm does not interfere with medical or political choices.

What is the relationship between Macron and McKinsey?

Relations between Emmanuel Macron and McKinsey’s office date back to 2007. Then a young financial inspector, he became deputy chief rapporteur of the Attali Commission, which was to propose economic reforms to President Nicolas Sarkozy. Emmanuel Macron particularly admires Eric Labaye, then director of McKinsey in France. Emmanuel Macron, once the economy minister, is aiming to become president. In April 2016, he created En Marche, which has dozens of McKinsey employees thinking about proposals on the economy or major sovereign issues, the article said. The world. Were McKinsey employees part-time or volunteer? The company did not respond to our colleagues. In any case, candidate Macron’s invoices to the National Commission on Campaign Reporting and Political Financing show no trace.

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After Emmanuel Macron was elected in 2017, young consultants from McKinsey joined the government: deputy director of the cabinet of the Secretary of State for digital issues, head of the “project center” of the Republic in March, director general of the Republic in March. McKinsey leader Eric Labaye, whom Emmanuel Macron met in 2007, was appointed president of Polytechnique in 2018. In turn, Martin Bohmert, the former head of Young People with Macron, joined the McKinsey cabinet in 2020.

Why was the investigation opened?

The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office announced Thursday, November 25, that it opened two judicial investigations in late October into the interference of consulting firms in the 2017 and 2022 election campaigns. During the last presidential election, the Senate report caused heated debate. on the use of public funds in favor of these firms, and the opposition demanded an investigation into the possible favoritism that McKinsey could benefit from from the Macronist majority. After an article Parisian, the PNF issued a statement to “clarify the status of various criminal cases” initiated after the Senate report and various complaints and reports. The prosecution notes that “on October 20, 2022, on the basis of a number of reports and complaints of elected officials and individuals, a judicial investigation was started against the heads of the pre-election campaign accounting in accordance with the requirements and reduction of accounting elements in the campaign account. , regarding the conditions of intervention of consulting firms in the election campaigns of 2017 and 2022”. The public prosecutor also adds that “after several complaints from elected officials and associations”, another information “on October 21, 2022, “favoritism and The concealment of favoritism has been revealed from their leaders.

What exactly is McKinsey accused of?

A Senate investigative committee report published on March 16 found that government and cabinet contracts “more than doubled” between 2018 and 2021, to a record high of more than €1 billion in 2021. immediately demanded an investigation into the relationship between the Macronist majority and McKinsey. According to Mediapart, some members of the cabinet could have worked for free during Emmanuel Macron’s victorious 2017 presidential campaign. The senators’ report also points to a possible tax arrangement for McKinsey’s French businesses, which would have allowed them to pay no corporate tax between 2017 and 2017. 2011 and 2020. In his press release, Jean-Francois Bohnert recalled that since March 31, a preliminary investigation into “laundering of dirty money as a result of aggravated tax evasion” is being conducted on these facts. On May 24, McKinsey’s headquarters in France were searched.

How did Emmanuel Macron react?

After “reading the information” of the PNF, Yelysee soberly commented on Thursday evening: “It depends on justice to conduct these investigations independently.” The head of state, whose name was not mentioned in the PNF press release, is protected by criminal immunity. If the investigative judges believe that Emmanuel Macron should explain himself on these questions, they may summon him at the end of his second term at the Elysée. In the midst of controversy during the 2022 presidential election, Emmanuel Macron believed that the failure to pay corporate tax by McKinsey was explained by the existing tax rules. “If there is a fact of manipulation, let him go to the criminal court.