French investigate labor minister while at CES in Las Vegas
PARIS — France’s labor minister, Muriel Penicaud, has been summoned for questioning Tuesday in an investigation into a Las Vegas tech party.
Paris prosecutors are investigating suspected irregularities in the organization of a costly, high-profile event at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show.
French President Emmanuel Macron, then economy minister, headlined the event. The investigation doesn’t target him directly.
The company that organized the “French Tech Night” event, advertising firm Havas, is suspected of having done so without undergoing open tender procedures, among other suspected problems.
Penicaud then directed an agency called Business France that reportedly signed off on the Havas contract.
She has acknowledged a “procedural error” in the process but says she then launched an internal and external audit, addressing the issue.
