In 2018, the Paris public prosecutor’s office opened a criminal investigation against Vivastreet on charges of aggravated pimping, the MP Carolyn Harris told the committee last week. At a previous hearing, Neelam Patankar, Vivastreet’s managing director, told the committee she was not in a position to discuss the status of the investigation. “For France, any interaction was prior to my position in post, I’m afraid. I am aware of the same information that you probably are. I cannot really give you anything more than that, unfortunately,” she said. The Home Office has met representatives of Vivastreet on 15 occasions since 2017, according to a response to a parliamentary written question. Johnson and fellow MPs questioned the police’s strategy at a committee meeting investigating modern slavery.