The former Minister of Labor is indicted for complicity in favoritism concerning the investigation into a party organized in 2016 in Las Vegas.
Muriel Pénicaud, former Minister of Labor, is indicted in the case called “Business France”. The facts date back to January 2016. The politician was then director general of the public organization promoting the French economy abroad. At the time, Emmanuel Macron was Minister of the Economy. He then went to Las Vegas, as part of the Consumer Electronics Show, a show which houses the biggest technological innovations of the moment. The objective was to meet several hundred French entrepreneurs there. This trip and these meetings would have cost around 300,000 euros. The operation was entrusted to the Havas agency, without competitive bidding, even though this is obligatory in public markets. The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation a year later, after a report from the General Inspectorate of Finance. Muriel Pénicaud was initially placed under the status of assisted witness. “Eight years later, new investigating judges seem to have a different opinion. I regret it,” she said.
“Nothing” to complain about
In fact, the judges announced the end of the investigations in 2019, but procedural appeals have taken place since then. This Saturday, December 23, the former Minister of Labor assured that she had “nothing” to “reproach herself for”. “My integrity is total, I am serene, I have a clear conscience,” she said in a message sent to AFP. “Since the start of this affair, I have been exonerated by an audit report, the General Inspectorate of Finance, three investigating judges, the prosecutor, the Paris Court of Appeal, the Court of accounts,” she detailed.