What we know about the investigation targeting the new Minister of Health, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, suspected of having received undeclared gifts

Just promoted to interim Minister of Health, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo is caught up in a legal case. In an investigation published Thursday, December 21, the Mediapart information site claims that Aurélien Rousseau’s successor received undeclared gifts worth 20,000 euros from Urgo laboratories when she worked as a pharmacist . The minister confirmed on Friday that she was the subject of a judicial investigation. Franceinfo summarizes what we know about this affair.

Champagne and watches among the gifts received

According to Mediapart, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo “is suspected of having had luxury products delivered to her on 21 occasions, from 2015 to 2020” For “a total amount estimated at 20 000 euros, from Urgo laboratories”. A pharmacist by profession, she then ran a pharmacy in Le Havre (Seine-Maritime). The information site mentions deliveries of magnums of champagne, bottles of wine, smartphones, televisions, watches and even boxes for weekends. Part of these gifts were received after the election as deputy of Agnès Firmin Le Bodo in 2017, according to the site.

In January, Urgo laboratories were sentenced by the Dijon Criminal Court to a fine of 1.12 million euros, including 625,000 suspended, for having offered gifts to pharmacists, in return for giving up discounts commercial. The Dijon public prosecutor’s office explains that this system has “allowed laboratories to build customer loyalty with higher commercial margins and healthcare professionals to obtain personal benefits”.

Following this conviction, fraud repression carried out investigations with the pharmacies involved. In Normandy, it has received around forty files, according to information from Mediapart. “The lightest cases (less than 1 000 euros bonus) are classified. While the other files give rise to the opening of a preliminary investigation, in June 2023.explains the newspaper.

An investigation opened by the Le Havre public prosecutor’s office

According to Mediapart, it is in this context that the minister “is the subject of a judicial investigation opened in June 2023 for having received gifts, without declaring them”. The public prosecutor of Le Havre, Bruno Dieudonné, confirmed to AFP on Thursday that an investigation had been opened “on the charge of ‘unauthorized perception by a health professional of advantages provided by a person producing or marketing health products’, as an extension of the case which resulted in the conviction of Urgo laboratories in January 2023 by the court Dijon correctional.

Due to the “secret of the investigation”, the prosecutor did not communicate the identity of the pharmacists targeted. The magistrate, however, assures Mediapart that “sur fortyeld of pharmacists concerned [en Normandie]19 received benefits of between 1,000 and 10,000 euros, three between 10,000 and 20,000 euros and three between 20,000 and 32,000 euros.

Benefits to healthcare professionals are strictly regulated

The so-called “anti-gifts” law of 1993, reinforced by the order of January 19, 2017, prohibits health professionals from receiving benefits from health industries. Therefore, pharmacists cannot “receive benefits in kind, or in cash, in any form whatsoever, directly or indirectly, provided by companies providing health services, producing or marketing health products (with the exception of cosmetics and tattooing) or providing health benefits”affirms the National Order of Pharmacists on its site.

Exemptions exist in certain specific situations, such as remuneration or expenses for research activities, or even the payment of travel expenses to attend a medical conference for example, specifies the order. These advantages, granted by way of derogation, must be included in declarations that can be consulted on the Transparence-Santé platform. On this basis, “he there is no mention of links of interest with Urgo laboratories” and Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, says Mediapart.

The minister will respond to the “competent authorities”

“As part of my role as pharmacist, an investigation is indeed underway”, confirmed Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, Friday at the microphone of France Bleu Normandie. The minister did not give further details, explaining that she will respond to “competent authorities in the following days”. Requested by Mediapart, its press advisor specifies that a hearing must take place “in January”.

Within the government, the Minister of Public Accounts estimated on Friday that “exemplarity is essential and non-negotiable in politics”. Questioned on this subject by franceinfo, Thomas Cazenave recalls that“An investigation is underway”. “On this subject, as on all other subjects, we must let justice do its work and speak its truth,” he adds.