Contrary to what he has stated, President Emmanuel Macron's chief of staff Alexis Kohler has not always revealed his family links to the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), and in his duties as a senior public servant has not always stood aside from issues involving the giant Italian-Swiss shipping firm. Official documents from the major French port of Le Havre, seen by Mediapart, show that Kohler took part in discussions and votes concerning the company while he sat on the port's Supervisory Board as a civil servant from 2010 to 2012. Laurent Mauduit and Martine Orange investigate.
The issue clearly intrigued a member of France's ethics committee for public servants back in 2014. At the time Alexis Kohler, a senior civil servant who is now President Emmanuel Macron's chief of staff, was asking for permission from the civil service to join the massive maritime transport firm the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). On the June 2014 declaration an anonymous hand has underlined the words 'Grand Port Maritime du Havre (GPMH)' - or Major Seaport of Le Havre as it is known in English - as if to attract attention to Kohler's silence on the issue.
