A French investigating judge has been appointed to probe former prime minister Édouard Philippe over alleged misappropriation of public funds, favouritism, illegal conflict of interest and extortion, dealing a blow to one of the centre-right’s leading hopefuls for the 2027 French presidential election.
The Parquet National Financier (PNF), France’s national financial prosecutors’ office, confirmed to AFP on May 19, 2026 that the case had been handed to a magistrate. The PNF had opened a preliminary investigation in April 2024 after a whistleblower filed a complaint in September 2023.
Philippe, who served as President Emmanuel Macron’s first prime minister from 2017 to 2020 and was re-elected mayor of Le Havre in March, denies any wrongdoing. “Édouard Philippe takes note of the opening of a judicial investigation. He learned of it through the press. And he will of course respond to all the questions put to him by the courts, calmly, as he has always done,” his office told France 3 Normandie.
At the heart of the case is a multi-year contract worth more than €2 million signed in July 2020 for the running of the Cité Numérique du Havre, a publicly funded digital hub. Philippe signed the agreement as president of the Le Havre Seine Métropole urban community.
The recipient association, LH French Tech, was chaired at the time by Stéphanie de Bazelaire, Philippe’s own deputy in charge of innovation and digital affairs at the town hall. The complainant, a former senior official whose contract was not renewed in April 2023, has argued that the arrangement amounted to a flagrant conflict of interest.
Police searched the mayoral offices in April 2024 as part of the preliminary inquiry. The whistleblower, represented by lawyer Christelle Mazza, became a civil party to the case in June 2025. The PNF formally handed the file to an investigating judge on May 7, 2026, according to Swiss broadcaster RTS.
Two other officials are also named in the complaint: De Bazelaire and Claire-Sophie Tasias, director general of services for the Le Havre Seine Métropole urban community. Philippe has consistently defended his “good faith” and insisted that public procurement rules were respected.
The development risks complicating Philippe’s path to the Élysée Palace. The leader of the centrist Horizons party, allied to Macron’s bloc, has long been considered the candidate best placed to challenge National Rally’s Marine Le Pen and her protégé Jordan Bardella in the 2027 contest, in which the President cannot stand for a third consecutive term.
Polls have repeatedly identified Philippe as the most competitive figure on the pro-European centre-right, though the corruption inquiry is expected to weigh on his standing as the campaign approaches.
