France’s new health minister under investigation for accepting undeclared gifts

France’s newly appointed health minister is under investigation for accepting undeclared luxury gifts while working as a pharmacist.

Agnès Firmin Le Bodo is suspected of having received over €20,000 worth of undisclosed gifts between 2015 and 2020, when she was working as a pharmacist in Normandy, according to an investigation by French website Mediapart.

According to the outlet, she received 21 deliveries of luxury products — including watches, bottles of champagne, smartphones and a television —over the years in question from Urgo laboratories, which she failed to declare. The heart of the case hinges on France’s anti-gift laws that impose transparency rules over both companies giving presents and professionals receiving them.

Authorities opened a judicial investigation in June 2023, and a hearing is scheduled for January 2024.

Le Bodo’s spokesperson told Mediapart that she “will only respond to the competent authorities” during January’s hearing.

The investigation is part of a wider inquiry into illegal commercial practices by Urgo laboratories, which reportedly offered more than €55 million euros in gifts to pharmacists throughout the country between 2015 and 2021, Mediapart reported. Urgo was convicted in January 2023 for breaching the anti-gift law.

Le Bodo took on the role of health minister on Wednesday, after former Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau resigned over the country’s controversial immigration bill.