2023-12-22 20:24:24
Less than two days after taking office, on an interim basis, replacing Aurélien Rousseau, the Minister of Health Agnès Firmin-Le Bodo is embroiled in a case of illicit gifts from Urgo laboratories, received within the framework of her profession of pharmacist.
Owner of a pharmacy in Le Havre, she would have received, between 2015 and 2020 (when she already had elective functions), luxury products, watches, bottles of wine and champagne or even weekend boxes, for a total value of 20,000 euros, according to Mediapart. “As part of my role as pharmacist, an investigation is underway,” admitted the person concerned on France bleu Normandie. Allow me to reserve the discussions that I should have with the competent authorities.”
VIDEO. The new Minister of Health already targeted by an investigation for 20,000 euros in undeclared gifts
In the executive, embarrassment dominates. “We do not have any elements that confirm what Mediapart writes. We will have to check all of this,” says a government source. A communicator puts things into perspective: “We are talking about 20,000 euros, over 5 years, it is not 300,000 euros and a villa on the coast either”. At Matignon, we simply recall “the right to the presumption of innocence”. “We must let Firmin-Le Bodo provide evidence,” we explain.
“In the sequence, we didn’t need that”
Questioned on France Info, the Minister of Public Accounts Thomas Cazenave insisted that “exemplarity is absolutely essential, non-negotiable”, but that “we must let justice do its work and speak its truth”. A Walker whispers: “It’s a baroque situation. In the sequence, we didn’t need that.”
Enough, in any case, to fuel the hypothesis of a major reshuffle in January. For which Firmin-Le Bodo could pay the price. A tile: within the government, she was until then responsible for the oh-so-sensitive end-of-life issue, which was finally due to land next year.
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