PARIS: French investigators have searched the Elysee presidential palace as a part of a probe into alleged favouritism and corruption, prosecutors mentioned Friday (Might 22), after a earlier try was refused.
The search on the official residence of French President Emmanuel Macron, carried out on Thursday, is linked to a probe into the repeated choice over a number of years of the identical firm to organise induction ceremonies on the Pantheon mausoleum, the place distinguished French figures are buried.
“Search operations passed off on Might 21 on the premises of the Elysee Palace, as a part of the judicial inquiry focusing notably on the circumstances below which sure public contracts referring to the organisation of Pantheon ceremonies have been awarded,” the monetary public prosecutor’s workplace mentioned.
Thursday’s operation was “preceded by institutional consultations to make sure they may proceed,” it mentioned.
A consultant of the Elysee advised AFP that the presidency had authorised the search because the process “doesn’t goal” Macron and that “the required safeguards” have been in place in regards to the structure and “the secrecy of nationwide defence”.
In April, investigators had tried to look the palace however have been denied entry on the grounds that the structure ensures the “inviolability of premises hooked up to the presidency”, monetary public prosecutor Pascal Prache mentioned on the time.
The searches are a part of an investigation opened in October 2025 into suspected favouritism, corruption and affect peddling.
French weekly Le Canard Enchaine has mentioned investigators have been trying into why the occasions firm, Shortcut Occasions, had for over twenty years till 2024 been picked to host the induction into the Pantheon mausoleum, estimating every ceremony to price “round 2 million euros”.
The final ceremony the occasions firm organised, in response to Le Canard Enchaine, was one in 2024 to honour Missak Manouchian, a stateless Armenian poet who died combating the Nazi occupation of France throughout World Warfare II.
Earlier than that, French-American dancer, singer, Resistance member and rights activist Josephine Baker grew to become the primary black lady to enter the Pantheon in 2021.
