The raids are part of preliminary criminal investigation opened last June last after French tax authorities lodged a complaint and come as Google faces outrage in Europe over the small amount of tax it pays in the region. 

Called to pay €1.6 billion

The probe seeks to verify whether Google’s Irish unit has permanent establishment in France and whether the firm failed to declare part of its revenues there. France has called on the company to pay back taxes of about €1.6 billion.

Going after Google’s Ireland management

According to Alain Frenkel, a tax lawyer at Frenkel & Associés in Paris, prosecutors will probably go after Google’s management in Ireland. ‘That doesn’t mean Google won’t also face a recovery order from France’s tax authorities,’ he told Bloomberg.