Alexis Kohler, one of President Emmanuel Macron's most powerful and trusted advisors, is facing a charge of conflict of interest, it was revealed on Monday.
Kohler is accused over his professional and family links with the Italian-Swiss shipping company Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) which is run by his mother's cousins, said Jean-Francois Bohnert, the chief financial crimes prosecutor.
Lawyers for the 49-year-old civil servant said he categorically denied any wrongdoing as Elysée sources confirmed Kohler would continue as Elysée secretary-general - a post he has held since Macron swept to power in May 2017.
Opposition MPs hit out on Monday night at Macron's decision to back Kohler.
Olivier Marleix, leader of the LR party, called for Kohler to resign.
Mathilde Panot, head of LFI MPs, tweeted: "Macron's protégé will have to face his obsession: accountability!"
The details of the case against Kohler emergd hours after Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti was ordered to stand trial, charged with misusing his position to settle scores with opponents from his legal career.
"Between Kohler and Dupond-Moretti on the same day, President Macron must now choose: to be President of the Republic or head of a clan. In the face of the democratic collapse that threatens here as elsewhere, his choices will weigh heavily," said environmentalist MP Benjamin Lucas.
In 2018, Anticor, an anti-corruption NGO, filed a legal complaint against Kohler for illegal influence-peddling concerning contracts awarded to MSC in 2010 and 2011.
Kohler allegedly failed to reveal his family connections with MSC to the French agency for public investment where he worked at the time.
The case was dismissed the following year, but in 2020, Anticor filed a civil case which usually triggers an inquiry by an investigating magistrate.
Kohler, whose office at the Elysée is located next to Macron's, is often described as the president's right-hand man. His job involves handling emergencies, major economic and social issues as well as some political decisions.
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