French police searched McDonald’s headquarters outside Paris after an aggravated tax fraud and money-laundering probe was launched against the fast-food giant’s local branch.
The French financial prosecutor’s office said that a tax fraud police unit seized documents from the headquarters in Guyancourt, west of Paris. The search took place on 18 May but authorities disclosed it on Thursday.
The company’s office in Oak Brook, Illinois has said it pays all its income taxes in France in accordance with current legislation.
The raid happened amid protest outside the Illinois office for an increase in the minimum wage of the employees.
The employees have been demanding the minimum wage to be increased to $15 per hour since 2012. The employees tried to raise the issue during the annual company meeting held on Thursday.
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Investigators suspect that the burger chain is artificially reducing its profits and taxes in France through license fees and other money transfers to its European parent company in Luxembourg.
The prosecutor’s office refused details of the amount involved in the alleged tax fraud.
In an interview last January, Alexis Bourdon, McDonald’s France vice-president of finance has said that its French franchisees have paid over 1.2 billion euros in corporate taxes since 2009.
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