Pasteur Institute denies accusations of financial misconduct

The Pasteur Institute, one of France’s most important charitable research organisations, has flatly denied claims that it has misled the public about how it spends donations.

Its statement comes in the wake of a report by IGAS, an interministerial auditing body, which had accused the institute of accounting irregularities and goverance issues.

IGAS said in a report published this month that communication with donors about how their money is spent does not match up to reality. It argues that donors give to the institute in the belief that their money will be spent on research when, in fact, a large part of the money is spent on activities aimed at allowing the institute to grow. The institute must bring back a better level of transparency in its dealings with donors as a matter of great importance, IGAS says.