Sophia Chirikou, LFI MP for Paris, has been indicted for “aggravated fraud” in the case of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s campaign accounts for the 2017 presidential election. Her company is suspected of having overcharged for numerous services.
The rebellious elected official is in the sights of justice. The Paris MP, Sophia Chikirou, was indicted for “aggravated fraud”, “misuse of corporate assets” and “concealment of breach of trust” in the case of the accounts of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s campaign for the 2017 presidential election. The Parisian elected official was summoned by the investigating judges this Tuesday, September 24, 2024 to be heard on the case involving Médiascop, her communications consulting company. After two hours of hearing, Sophia Chikirou was indicted according to information from the World and of theAFP because she is suspected of having overcharged for certain services during the presidential campaign. The 45-year-old elected official denies the facts with which she is accused.
During the 2017 presidential election, Sophia Chikirou’s company was the second largest service provider for Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s campaign, with €1.16 million invoiced, 11% of the campaign costs of the rebel leader. The services sold, ranging from events to media strategy, were reportedly offered at higher margins than other professionals, reports The Worldthen reimbursed by the State as campaign expenses. Sophia Chikirou would have received part of this money according to Mediapart which indicates in an investigation that the Paris MP was able to “personally pay herself more than 135,000 euros in salary and dividends before taxes”, thanks to the 2017 campaign.
Sophia Chikirou paid €120,000 during the campaign
Médiascop’s services during Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s campaign and their prices appear in the invoices sent by the company to the La France Insoumise party and these indicate that Sophia Chikirou’s work as communications director was paid at a rate of €10,000 per month for eight months of the campaign, or €80,000, according to Franceinfo. But the invoices also list other tasks assigned to the Parisian MP:
- “Scriptwriting” for TV campaign clips valued at €6,000;
- The production of the seven “Esprit de campagne” programs broadcast on the internet is estimated at between €1,200 and €4,800 per episode;
- Preparation of speakers estimated at €3,600;
- Sophia Chikirou’s work for and during meetings.
With all her additional tasks, the MP finally earned a monthly salary of €15,000 for eight months, or €120,000.
In addition to the prices of the services provided by Sophia Chikirou, the invoices consulted by Franceinfo reveal that the elected official did not choose the most economical and advantageous packages for Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s campaign. This is the case of “community management” which could have worked with the mobilization of two people on a daily package, but which was carried out by three people and “split into about ten different tasks”, thus multiplying the costs.
Other missions billed “by the task” give rise to fairly substantial prices: €100,000 for all the videos produced during the campaign or €250 for importing each content onto online platforms. That is €4,750 for importing 19 speech videos. Another example: invoicing for subtitling videos at a rate of €200 per minute of subtitled video, compared to €15 per minute according to the rates generally applied.
An investigation opened in 2018
If Sophia Chikirou was indicted on Tuesday, September 24, 2024, it was in 2018 that the case began with the report of the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing (CNCCFP), followed by that of the financial intelligence unit Tracfin, to the Paris prosecutor’s office. At the time, the CNCCFP was questioning the expenses of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s campaign team with Médiascop and the association l’Ere du peuple.
Sophia Chikirou have always denied overcharging: “There was no overcharging, Mediascop did not overcharge, there was no personal enrichment, there was no misappropriation of public funds” assured the elected official after a hearing in 2018. Even today, a source close to the elected official assures theAFP that “free pricing is the principle of capitalism.”