PARIS: French investigators have searched the Elysee presidential palace as a part of a probe into alleged favouritism and corruption, prosecutors stated Friday (Could 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 happened on Could 21 on the premises of the Elysee Palace, as a part of the judicial inquiry focusing notably on the situations below which sure public contracts regarding the organisation of Pantheon ceremonies have been awarded,” the monetary public prosecutor’s workplace stated.
Thursday’s operation was “preceded by institutional consultations to make sure they might proceed,” it stated.
A consultant of the Elysee informed 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 connected to the presidency”, monetary public prosecutor Pascal Prache stated 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 stated investigators have been wanting into why the occasions firm, Shortcut Occasions, had for over 20 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 accordance with Le Canard Enchaine, was one in 2024 to honour Missak Manouchian, a stateless Armenian poet who died preventing 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.
