Le Pen’s political career is framed by several significant scandals; the prosecutor’s office began looking into this particular case in December 2016. According to investigators, Le Pen misused money available to MEPs to cover work expenses, which include paying assistants. This money was allegedly used to pay people who worked for the National Association (then called the National Front).
Investigators looked into the cases of up to 49 aides in Le Pen’s three parliamentary terms between 2004 and 2016. The investigation was prompted by a parliamentary report that some of these alleged aides held senior positions in the then-National Front, which appeared to be incompatible with their work in the European Parliament.
“We question the premise (of the prosecutor’s office), which appears to be a misunderstanding of the work of opposition lawmakers and their assistants, which is primarily political,” it responded in a statement sent to the agency Reuters National association.
Over 100 thousand per hotel
One such case was described by a French investigative website Mediapartaccording to which Marine Le Pen in 2010 requested approximately 5,000 euros (about 122,000 crowns) for hotel rooms for 13 members of the far-right party who were to attend a conference entitled European Regions and the Financial Crisis.
However, one of the participants was supposed to write to the European Parliament, telling them that the meeting was used to discuss the party’s presidency. An unnamed attendee claimed to investigators that Le Pen had put up a European flag on the road for the purpose of taking pictures and then ordered colleagues to “clean up the crap”.
British daily The Guardian stated that if the trial takes place, Le Pen could face up to ten years in prison, a fine of 1 million euros (about 24.5 million crowns) or even a ban on public office for ten years.
There are more cases
The ongoing case is not the only one related to Le Pen’s position in the European Parliament. According to a British newspaper, in 2018 the court ordered the politician to return the sum of around 330,000 euros (about eight million crowns), which was paid to her for employing a fictitious assistant. Other cases concern, for example, expensive RN parties – again financed with European money.
Last November, Le Pen handed over the presidency of the RN to Jordan Bardell, who is now also an MEP. She ran for the presidency in 2017 and 2022, both times being defeated in the second round by incumbent President Emmanuel Macron.
French police have detained a journalist who published classified information
2023-09-23 08:46:02
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