French finance investigators were denied access to offices in the Elysee Palace Tuesday as they pursued an investigation into the award of contracts for memorial ceremonies at the Pantheon Mausoleum over two decades, Paris prosecutors reported.
Investigators and magistrates from the national financial prosecutor’s office were not authorized to access the Elysee, according to Pascal Prache, a financial public prosecutor.
They were told that Article 67 of the Constitution entails the “inviolability of premises attached to the Presidency of the Republic,” Prache said in a statement.
“They were informed that the documents (they wished to consult) would be transmitted upon request, as the Presidency regularly does with the judicial authority,” the Elysee told France Televisions.
The investigators searched several premises in an investigation into the award of contracts between 2002 and 2024 to a single organization, which charged around 2 million euros ($2.4 million) for each event, according to a report in Le Canard Enchaine, which specializes in investigative reporting.
According to the newspaper, the investigators are looking into whether the company received support from the palace – President Emmanuel Macron's official residence – the Culture Ministry or the CMN centre for national monuments.
The Pantheon in Paris is a mausoleum for prominent French figures, such as the writers and intellectuals Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
