New documents seen by Mediapart undermine claims that the substantial discounts that events firm GL Events handed to Emmanuel Macron's presidential campaign were simply in line with “normal” business practice. The documents show that neither socialist candidate Benoît Hamon or conservative candidate François Fillon received similar discounts despite renting the same halls during the campaign. Opposition politicians are now raising questions over the cut-price deals offered by GL Events, whose boss Olivier Ginon the president describes as a “friend”. Antton Rouget reports.
New documents seen by Mediapart give the lie to claims that the substantial discounts offered by events company GL Events on its services to Emmanuel Macron's 2017 election campaign were simply part of “normal” commercial practice. When Mediapart revealed a few days ago that the Macron campaign received discounts worth many thousands of pounds, both the company's boss Olivier Ginon and the Élysée brushed aside any claims of favouritism from GL Events. Ginon himself wrote to Mediapart insisting that the discounts had been available to all.
