The new health minister, Agnes Firmin Le Bodeau, is the target of an investigation for gifts she received as a pharmacist, Mediapart reported.

The interval begins delicately. According to media partyAgnes Firmin Le Bodeau, newly appointed to the Ministry of Health, as a pharmacist, received gifts worth around €20,000 from Urgo Laboratories.. The minister, who stepped down on Wednesday after Aurelien Rousseau resigned over disagreements over immigration law, “There is a judicial investigation started in June 2023 into the fact of receiving gifts without declaring them”writes, on Thursday, December 21, an online news site.

On Thursday evening, Le Havre prosecutor Bruno Dieudonne confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that an investigation had been launched. “On charges of unauthorized perception by a health professional of benefits provided by a manufacturer or marketer of health products,” as a follow-up to the case that resulted in the conviction of Urgo Laboratories by the Dijon Criminal Court in January 2023..

“The confidentiality of the investigation prohibits me from further communication, in particular the identity of the target pharmacists of this investigation. From the end of 2015 to the end of 2020, six of them received bonuses totaling more than 12,000 euros.– added the magistrate. Asked by AFP, the minister’s entourage indicated that he would respond “Only to competent authorities”.

“A watch, bottles of wine and a magnum of champagne…”

Pharmacist by profession M^I Firmin Le Beaudo, who runs a pharmacy in Le Havre (Saint-Maritam), “It is suspected that between 2015 and 2020 he had 21 deliveries of luxury goods – watches, wine bottles and champagne mags, boxes for the weekend, etc. – for a total amount of 20,000 euros, from Urgo laboratories”According to Mediapart. “Urgo thus tried to keep pharmacists and increase their commercial margin”Continues Mediapart.

In January 2023, Urgo Laboratories was fined 1,125,000 euros, including 625,000 suspended, for offering gifts to pharmacists in exchange for commercial discounts. This practice represents the so-called Violation of the law “The Opposite Gifts” Adopted in 1993.

According to Mediapart, “The Second Part of the Case” Justice began for all pharmacists who received gifts. In Normandy, the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) deals with about forty files. “The lightest cases (bonus less than 1000 euros) are classified. While other cases lead to a preliminary investigation, in June 2023.”The newspaper explains, according to which M^I Figure of Firmin Le Bodeau “Among the largest likely beneficiaries”.