Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, recently appointed Minister of Health, finds herself at the heart of a controversy following revelations from Mediapart…
She was appointed Minister of Health this week and is already being targeted by an affair. Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, who took over from Aurélien Rousseau, who resigned after the vote on the immigration law, is suspected of having received undeclared gifts when she was a pharmacist. The investigation, revealed by Mediapart, began in June 2023. It concerns benefits received from Urgo laboratories between 2015 and 2020, valued at around 20,000 euros.
Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, taking the reins of the ministry in an emergency, quickly found herself confronted with these accusations. She confirmed the existence of the investigation in a statement to France Bleu Normandie, while reserving future discussions with the competent authorities. This investigation follows the conviction of Urgo laboratories in January 2023 for similar facts. The secrecy of the investigation limits communication on details, in particular on the identity of the pharmacists involved.
The public prosecutor of Le Havre, Bruno Dieudonné, for his part confirmed the opening of an investigation for “unauthorized perception by a health professional of advantages provided by a person producing or marketing health products”.
Watches, bottles of wine, weekend boxes…
The accusations against the minister suggest that she received various luxury products, such as watches, bottles of wine, and weekend boxes, for a total amount estimated at 20,000 euros. An Urgo strategy to retain pharmacists and increase their commercial margins. This practice, if confirmed for Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, would constitute a violation of the “anti-gifts” law adopted in 1993.
In January 2023, Urgo was already fined a substantial amount. Mediapart emphasizes that a second part of the case is underway, with justice taking an interest in all the pharmacists who received gifts. In Normandy, the DGCCRF is examining around forty files, classifying the least serious cases and opening preliminary investigations for the others, in particular that of the Minister of Health, identified as one of the most important presumed beneficiaries.