PARIS (Reuters) – Former French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn has been put under formal investigation over her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, reported BFM TV and Agence France Presse on Friday.
The development marks one of first cases worldwide where a leading public sector official has been held legally accountable for the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Buzyn, health minister from May 2017 to February 2020, had to step down at the start of the pandemic under pressure from President Emmanuel Macron to replace Benjamin Griveaux, the LREM party candidate for Mayor of Paris who was forced to withdraw after a sex-tape scandal.
She lost her bid for the Paris city hall and ended up being appointed in January to the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva, in charge of monitoring multilateral issues.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
