The soap opera is far from over. Keneo, a consulting firm specializing in sport, is the subject of a search on Wednesday in one of the two preliminary investigations by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) targeting contracts awarded for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. The governing bodies of Keneo, a firm created in 2008, were not immediately available for comment to AFP.
According to the source familiar with the matter, the search of the premises of Keneo’s Paris center began in the morning and was still in progress at lunchtime. It is part of an investigation opened in 2017 by the PNF and entrusted to the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses (OCLCIFF).
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This investigation concerns a series of contracts awarded in particular by “the Organizing Committee for the 2024 Olympic Games [Cojo] and the GIP 2024 [le comité de candidature qui précédait le Cojo] “, said the PNF on Tuesday. The offenses covered are illegal taking of interests, embezzlement of public funds, favoritism and concealment of favouritism.
In an article from May 2017, even before Paris was officially designated host city, Mediapart had indicated that Keneo had already received 2 million euros in GIP 2024 contracts. The investigation site pointed to potential conflicts of interest between the team officially responsible for preparing the French candidacy and the event agency.
Edouard Donnely, boss of Keneo between 2015 and 2018 then co-founder of an agency called RNK, became executive director of operations of the Cojo in November 2022. Asked by AFP on Tuesday, he did not wish to comment.
On Tuesday, the first searches carried out as part of this investigation as well as another, opened in 2022 and also relating to contracts awarded within the framework of the Olympic Games, targeted the Cojo and the Olympic Works Delivery Company (Solideo) . The source familiar with the matter clarified that RNK was not targeted by either of the two investigations.