PARIS – Financial investigators raided the French presidential palace on April 14 as part of a probe into an events company repeatedly being awarded contracts to organise prestigious memorial ceremonies, a source with knowledge of the case said.
French newspaper Le Canard Enchaine also reported the dawn raid, saying it came as investigators were looking into why Shortcut Events had for over two decades until 2024 been picked to host the induction into the Pantheon mausoleum of France’s most notable historic figures including members of the French Resistance.
The newspaper estimated that each ceremony cost “around €2 million (S$3 million)”.
The source said officers from the financial and anti-corruption unit were leading the probe.
The last ceremony the events company organised, according to Le Canard Enchaine, was one in 2024 to honour Missak Manouchian, a stateless Armenian poet who died fighting the Nazi occupation of France during World War II.
Before that, French-American dancer, singer, Resistance member and rights activist Josephine Baker became the first black woman to enter the Pantheon in 2021. AFP
