France: Elysée palace raided in investigation into awarding of national tributes

Agents of the anti-corruption financial brigade (BFAC) carried out a raid on Tuesday at the Elysée Palace, headquarters of the French presidency. The operation is part of an investigation into the organization of tributes to great public figures entering the Pantheon, a source familiar with the case told AFP.

Although the authorities were unable to enter, investigators received the delivery of several computers.

The Pantheon, popularly known as the "temple of the immortals," has since the late 18th century housed the remains of men and women who have left their mark on the history of France. Today, the decision of who enters this emblematic monument rests with the presidents of the Republic.

An investigation reviewing two decades of pantheonizations

The record was revealed by French weekly Le Canard Enchaîné which confirmed that the raid indeed took place on Tuesday and that it focuses on the conditions under which, for 22 years, the company Shortcut Events has been awarded the entrance ceremonies to the Pantheon.

According to the media, each of these ceremonies, called "pantheonizations," cost approximately $2.36 million.

The judicial investigation thus covers the tributes carried out from 2002 until the 2024 ceremony in which the remains of Missak Manouchian, the Armenian-born communist resistance fighter, poet and prominent fighter against the Nazi occupation during the Second World War, were placed inside. 

The last to be pantheonized, last October, was former minister Robert Badinter, the main promoter of the abolition of the death penalty in France, who died in 2024. The next ceremony planned is that of Jewish historian and resistance fighter Marc Bloch, murdered by the Nazis, which is scheduled for next June.