The new Minister of Health, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, confirms being targeted by an investigation for gifts received as a pharmacist

2023-12-21 23:33:35
Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, at the National Assembly, in Paris, December 20, 2023. LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP

The interim starts delicately. According to MediapartAgnès Firmin Le Bodo, just appointed head of the Ministry of Health, received as a pharmacist gifts worth an estimated 20,000 euros from Urgo laboratories. The minister, who rose in rank on Wednesday following the resignation of Aurélien Rousseau for disagreement on the law relating to immigration, “is the subject of a judicial investigation opened in June 2023 for having received gifts, without declaring them”wrote, Thursday December 21, the online information site.

Questioned on the subject Friday morning, the minister confirmed at the microphone of France Bleu Normandie “that, within the framework of [s]functions as a pharmacist, indeed, an investigation [la concernant] is in progress “. “Allow me to reserve the discussions that I should have with the competent authorities in the following days”, she continued, without giving further details.

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“Watches, bottles of wine and magnums of champagne…”

Pharmacist by profession, Ms. Firmin Le Bodo, who runs a pharmacy in Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), “is suspected of having had luxury products delivered on 21 occasions, from 2015 to 2020 – watches, bottles of wine and magnums of champagne, boxes for weekends, etc. – for a total amount estimated at 20,000 euros, from Urgo laboratories »according to Mediapart. “Urgo thus sought to retain pharmacists and increase their commercial margins”continues Mediapart.

Read also: Urgo laboratories condemned for offering gifts to pharmacists

In January 2023, Urgo laboratories were fined 1,125,000 euros, including 625,000 suspended, for offering gifts to pharmacists, in return for giving up commercial discounts. These practices constitute an infringement of the so-called “anti-gifts” law adopted in 1993.

According to Mediapart, “a second part of the affair” began, justice being interested in all the pharmacists who received gifts. In Normandy, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) is dealing with around forty files. “The lightest cases (less than 1,000 euros of bonus) are classified. While the other files give rise to the opening of a preliminary investigation, in June 2023”explains the newspaper, according to which Ms. Firmin Le Bodo appears “among the biggest alleged beneficiaries”.

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