The Elysee Palace, targeted by investigators in a corruption case regarding official ceremonies. Their access was denied

French authorities raided several locations on Tuesday in a corruption investigation targeting contracts for the organization of memorial ceremonies, but were not allowed access to the Elysee Palace, the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) said, according to Reuters, France24 and Le Monde.

Le Canard Enchaine, a satirical and investigative press publication, reported on Tuesday that investigators are trying to find out whether Shortcut Events, a Paris-based company that has been organizing official funerals at the Pantheon for two decades, benefited from extraordinary support from the National Center of Museums, the Ministry of Culture or the Elysee Palace.

According to Le Monde information, the investigation was opened following an anonymous tip that PNF received at the end of 2023.

Shortcut Events has been the company chosen for two decades to organize induction ceremonies in the Pantheon mausoleum in Paris for historical figures of France and beyond, including members of the French Resistance, according to Le Canard Enchaine, which estimates that each such event cost “around 2 million euros”.

The investigators were not allowed to enter the Elysee Palace

French President Emmanuel Macron's office has confirmed that investigators have turned up at the Elysee Palace and says he has told them that information about presidential advisers, but unrelated to the president's activities, will be provided upon request. The administration did not provide other details.

The last ceremony organized by Shortcut Events, notes Le Canard Enchaine, was the burial of the poet of Armenian origin Missak Maouchian, who died fighting against the Nazi occupation of France during the Second World War. The event took place in 2024.

Earlier in 2021, 46 years after she died in Paris, Josephine Baker, French-American dancer, singer, member of the Resistance and human rights activist, became the first black woman inducted into the Pantheon.

Photo source: Kovalenkov Petr | Dreamstime.com