#White collar crime:
Former MEP Sylvie Goulard has been cleared in the judicial investigation concerning her consultancy role with an American institute.
An investigation was launched in 2022 following a complaint filed by the association Anticor, targeting Sylvie Goulard over suspicions of corruption and conflicts of interest related to her consultancy work for the American Berggruen Institute. After investigations, investigation judges from the Paris judicial court concluded that there was no concrete evidence, concealment, or lack of transparency on the part of Sylvie Goulard. The consultancy contract, signed while she was a Member of the European Parliament, had been carried out transparently after approval of the Parliament. The financial prosecutor had already dismissed a similar complaint in 2020. The case before the investigation judges was closed without prosecution in December 2024,, confirming that Ms. Goulard would not face prosecution. > Read article
Bruno Le Roux, former Socialist minister, to stand trial in November for embezzlement of public funds related to the illegal employment of his daughters
The former Minister of the Interior is due to appear before the Paris Criminal Court on 12 and 13 November, 2025, for the alleged misappropriation of public funds related to the employment of his two daughters between 2009 and 2017. They had signed twenty-four fixed-term contracts as parliamentary assistants, funded by his Representative Allowance for Official Expenses (IRFM), for a total amount of approximately €55,000. The case, revealed in March 2017 by the TV program Quotidien, led the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office to open an investigation and prompted Bruno Le Roux’s resignation on 21 March 2017. The former MP claims he will present evidence to the court proving, in his view, that no offense was committed. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 3 September 2025. This case is part of a broader series of proceedings concerning the contested use of the IRFM, which has already resulted in convictions of former parliamentarians such as Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, Alain Marsaud, and Philippe Nachbar. > Read article
Qatargate: when the French justice system scrutinizes FIFA contracts
The selection of Qatar by FIFA as the host country for the 2022 FIFA World Cup is the subject of a judicial investigation over allegations of corruption. Investigating judges are seeking to understand the conditions under which Qatar was awarded the hosting rights for the event, despite being the lowest-rated candidate from a technical standpoint. Particular concerns have been raised over questionable bonuses, including a $100 million payment made to FIFA by the Qatari television channel Al-Jazeera. A clause in the contract signed with Qatar at the end of 2010 stipulated that the payment would be made “if the 2022 World Cup is awarded to the State of Qatar.ˮ An initial payment of $6 million is believed to have been made to FIFA at the end of 2010, and an another payment of 2 million Swiss francs was reportedly made by FIFA to Michel Platini, then president of UEFA. According to testimonies, Platini—whose vote was decisive in securing the World Cup for Qatar— “did not appear to have decided to vote for Qatar” before attending a lunch on 23 November 2010, at the Élysée Palace with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the current Emir of Qatar. When questioned about the circumstances surrounding the negotiations of the contract with Qatar, members of FIFA’s executive committee gave conflicting accounts: some claimed they had not been informed of the bonuses in advance, while others asserted the opposite, stating that the terms of the agreement were thoroughly negotiated and approved internally prior to the contract’s signing. > Read article
