DThe French judiciary searched the Paris headquarters of the administration consultancy McKinsey on Tuesday. In accordance with the monetary prosecutor’s workplace, there’s a suspicion of cash laundering in reference to severe tax evasion, studies the French every day Le Monde.
At first of April, the general public prosecutor’s workplace – at the moment with out explicitly mentioning McKinsey’s identify – introduced that it had initiated a preliminary investigation into suspected tax fraud, however the wording had already steered that McKinsey was meant.
McKinsey confirms the go to of the French monetary prosecutor’s workplace to its Paris workplace on Tuesday: “McKinsey is absolutely cooperating with the French authorities, as has at all times been the case,” the corporate stated, however on the similar time reiterated its earlier place that “the relevant complies with French tax and social safety laws”.
McKinsey has been beneath strain in France since mid-March. Within the run-up to the French presidential election, an almost 400-page Senate report ready beneath the management of the opposition Republicans criticized the sharp improve in marketing consultant spending throughout Emmanuel Macron’s tenure. In accordance with the report, consulting companies have too far-reaching affect on the federal government’s selections, and Macron has wasted taxpayers’ cash whereas serving his personal pursuits.
assaults throughout the election marketing campaign
Macron’s rival Marine Le Pen tried to make use of public outrage over the marketing consultant’s spending to assault Macron shortly earlier than the election. The report additionally stated on the time that McKinsey had arrange a tax construction in France that allowed them to keep away from paying company tax between 2011 and 2020.
A police officer with a customs pink armband on the reception desk of McKinsey’s headquarters in Paris.
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Picture: AP
McKinsey sees itself wrongly pilloried. Company tax was paid for six years via the Orphoz subsidiary. All McKinsey models in France collectively paid greater than 422 million euros in taxes and social safety contributions within the interval in query, which corresponds to nearly 20 p.c of gross sales. Opposite to what has been publicly reported, McKinsey additionally solely accounts for one p.c of the French state’s consulting expenditure. Nevertheless, the opposition was not glad with McKinsey’s statements. With out additional data on McKinsey’s actual revenue and turnover, the reference was a “cheat”, stated the Republican Arnaud Bazin originally of April, beneath whose management the Senate report was ready. It’s now the duty of the judiciary to make clear the tax allegations and the totally different statements.
