Former French PM Philippe's mayoral office searched in corruption probe - source

By Juliette Jabkhiro

PARIS (Reuters) -French police on Wednesday searched the mayoral offices of former French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe as part of a preliminary probe into possible corruption and financial wrongdoings, a judicial source said on Wednesday.

Philippe, the mayor of Le Havre who is widely seen as a potential candidate to succeed Emmanuel Macron in France's 2027 presidential election, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The search is "part of a preliminary investigation opened in December 2023 on charges of illegal influence peddling, favouritism, misappropriation of public funds and psychological harassment", the source said, without specifically naming Philippe.

French paper Le Monde earlier reported the probe is targeting Philippe directly, as well as some of his aides.

Philippe resigned as prime minister in 2020 ahead of a government reshuffle. He was Macron's first prime minister, who defected from the conservative Les Republicans party to join the president's team after the 2017 election.

In 2020, Philippe was re-elected mayor of Le Havre, an industrial port town in northern France where he built his political career.

(Reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro, editing by Tassilo Hummel and Gabriel Stargardter)