The Minister of Health is accused of illicit gifts received as part of her profession as a pharmacist. Questioned about this on the sidelines of a visit to the Rouen University Hospital, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo assured that she was “very calm”. According to her , “there is no conflict of interest, no benefit in kind, no gift”.
A minister “very serene” while awaiting his court hearing. Just appointed to the Ministry of Health, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo has been accused of illicit gifts made by Urgo laboratories and received as part of her profession as a pharmacist.
Questioned about this on the sidelines of a visit to the Rouen University Hospital, the political leader denied everything “conflict of interest”. “On the matter to which you are referring, I am very calm”she told AFP.
I will be heard in the so-called Urgo affair
I will be heard in the so-called Urgo affair
Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, interim Minister of Health
The minister is the subject of a judicial investigation for having received, as a pharmacist in Le Havre, gifts from Urgo laboratories. According to Mediapart, which revealed the affair on December 21, the laboratories were offered to him from 2015 to 2020 for a total value of 20,000 euros. “Like 8,000 of my former colleagues, I will be heard in the so-called Urgo affair. I prefer to respond on the merits to the competent authorities, social networks are not the judges”she said.
For Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, in this matter, “there is no conflict of interest, no benefit in kind, no gift, there are commercial negotiations”. Has she considered resigning following these revelations? “Maybe”she replied, before repeating being “very calm on the merits of the case”.
-
Read also
Suspicions of favoritism: former minister Muriel Pénicaud believes she has “nothing to reproach herself for”
The gifts were offered by Urgo in exchange for a waiver by the pharmacist of a commercial discount from the laboratory to the pharmacy. This prohibited practice concerned a large number of pharmacists and the laboratory was sentenced in January 2023 to a fine of 1.125 million euros, including 625,000 euros suspended, by the Dijon criminal court, after an investigation by the repression of fraud (DGCCRF).
According to professional sources, the DGCCRF is investigating all pharmacists who accepted these gifts (watches, magnums of champagne, cast iron casserole dish, weekend boxes, etc.), which would therefore include Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, appointed Minister of Health interim after the resignation of Aurélien Rousseau for disagreement on the immigration law.
A.Lo. with AFP
2024-01-01 00:48:02
#Urgo #gifts #affair #Minister #Health #calm #denies #conflict #interest
