Financial investigators raided the French presidential palace on Tuesday as part of a probe into an events company repeatedly being awarded contracts to organise prestigious memorial ceremonies, a source with knowledge of the case said.
French newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné also reported the dawn raid, saying it came as investigators were looking into why Shortcut Events had for over two decades been picked to host the induction into the Pantheon mausoleum of France’s most notable historic figures including members of the French Resistance.
The newspaper estimated that each ceremony cost “around 2 million euros”.
The source said officers from the financial and anti-corruption unit were leading the probe.
The last ceremony the events company organised, according to Le Canard Enchaîné, was one in 2024 to honour Missak Manouchian, a stateless Armenian poet who died fighting the Nazi occupation of France during World War II.
Before that, French-American dancer, singer, Resistance member and rights activist Josephine Baker became the first black woman to enter the Pantheon in 2021.
The Elysée Palace in Paris serves as both the residence and workplace of the French president, as well as the workplace for his key members of staff and a venue for hosting high-profile guests.
It is common for French police to conduct a raid once this type of investigation is launched, in order to avoid the possibility of key documents being destroyed.
A similar raid was launched at the offices and homes of Covid-era health ministers Olivier Véran and Agnes Buzyn as part of the inquiry into the handling of the pandemic in France. Both were later exonerated.
