We summarize the revelations of “Cash Investigation” on the role of the consulting firm in Emmanuel Macron’s 2017 presidential campaign

An investigation by the magazine broadcast on France 2 on Tuesday evening reveals email exchanges, which attest to the work of the firm’s consultants for Emmanuel Macron’s first presidential campaign.

To what extent did the American firm McKinsey work for the presidential campaign led by Emmanuel Macron in 2017? The program “Cash Investigation”, broadcast Tuesday, September 17 on France 2, reveals messages that prove that McKinsey’s teams are involved in the preparation of this campaign without having been paid. However, the law prohibits companies from helping candidates without receiving compensation in return. We take stock of these revelations, while investigations are still underway under the direction of investigating judges, franceinfo learned from a judicial source.

A political project called “Chicxulub”

A consultant and head of the public service department of the McKinsey firm, Karim Tadjeddine has known Emmanuel Macron since 2007. At that time, they collaborated within the framework of the Jacques Attali commission, launched at the time by the former President of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy. Over the years, Karim Tadjeddine has forged close ties with Emmanuel Macron. He is the one who launched the political project called “Chicxulub”, named after a huge crater near the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, caused by the fall of a giant asteroid around 66 million years ago. As if to signify the end of the era of dinosaurs in politics. The details of the operation are now revealed thanks to a hundred emails, to which the program “Cash Investigation” had access and The New Obs.

A decisive dinner around Emmanuel Macron in 2015

On October 15, 2015, a dinner called “Fondation” was organized at Bercy. At the time, Emmanuel Macron was Minister of Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs under the presidency of François Hollande. Invitations were sent by email, via his secretariat. “Cash Investigation” obtained this message and met a man who was among the guests. He speaks for the first time and testifies with a masked face. The latter goes to this dinner without suspecting that it will be decisive. According to this witness, the table includes about twenty people, including Emmanuel Macron, his wife Brigitte, members of his cabinet, but also McKinsey employees, a few business leaders and leaders of political think tanks. It is a formal dinner, with waiters in uniform.

“First, Emmanuel Macron introduced the session by explaining that he was simply thinking about his future.the witness recounts in the France 2 program. And Brigitte Macron explains in particular that she believes that her husband has a role to play for France, that he must be made ambitious proposals.” The message is clear: the minister is preparing for the next presidential election.

Twenty-five unpaid appointments in 2016

The following year, on April 6, 2016, Emmanuel Macron launched his political party, En Marche. From then on, all donations, contributions, and other benefits in kind must be declared to the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing. However, the involvement of consultants from the McKinsey firm is increasing. “His chief of staff, Alexis Kohler, his deputy, Julien Denormandie, and his communications advisor, Ismaël Emelien, are assisted by three McKinsey employees, including Karim Tadjeddine,” reveal “Cash Investigation” and The New Obs. Based on emails, the two media outlets claim that 25 preparatory meetings were organised in the presence of employees, from June to November 2016.

“‘Friends, I saw Emmanuel Macron this weekend who wants us to move forward quickly’, wrote Karim Tadjeddine on June 13, 2016. Two days later, he sent a second email to his colleagues: ‘Go to Chicxulub, see you at the En Marche offices on June 18.'”, reports The New Obs. McKinsey is therefore providing a service. However, the three McKinsey employees are mobilized “free of charge”, estimates Mediapart. On November 16, 2016, Emmanuel Macron officially announced that he was running in the presidential election.

This period of Emmanuel Macron’s presidential campaign is now of interest to the courts, which are seeking to determine whether or not McKinsey benefited from an advantage as a result of political ties formed by its employees. Because “the consulting firm thus saw its activity in connection with the public sector explode from 2017 to 2022, benefiting from at least 72.8 million euros of public contracts over this prosperous period”, summarizes Mediapart.

In October 2022, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) opened two judicial investigations, in particular for “non-compliant maintenance of campaign accounts and reduction of accounting items in a campaign account, relating to the conditions for the intervention of consulting firms in the 2017 and 2022 election campaigns”and for “favoritism and concealment of favoritism”. “The investigation service uses the information obtained by search or requisition”a judicial source told franceinfo on Wednesday, adding that “people have been heard, but no indictment or placement under assisted witness status has taken place for the moment.”