During her time in the European Parliament
Le Pen is said to have embezzled 600,000 euros
04/16/2022 at 11:37 PM
According to a media report, several members of the right-wing National Front are accused by the European Parliament of having fake labor relations. The allegations against party leader Le Pen carry a lot of weight: she is said to have invested money in companies for political purposes.
According to a media report, the European Union’s anti-fraud agency, Olaf, has accused French right-wing populist Marine Le Pen and several of her close associates of embezzling about 600,000 euros during her tenure as a member of the European Parliament. French news portal Mediapart published excerpts from a new report by Olaf on Saturday. Le Pen will face incumbent President Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the presidential election next Sunday.
Le Pen’s lawyer denied the allegations. It was an “exploitation” shortly before the run-off election, Rodolphe Posselot of Agence France-Presse said. Portions of the report “Facts that are more than ten years old”. He added that Marine Le Pen “has not been summoned by any French judicial authority.” Neither he nor his client has received the final report of the investigation that began in 2016. Marine Le Pen was questioned in writing in March 2021.
Mediapart has published excerpts from Olaf’s new report on the spending of political groups in the European Parliament in the framework of their members’ mandates. Accordingly, Le Pen and others are said to have used the money for national political purposes, personal expenses or services from companies linked to their party or faction.
The Public Prosecutor in Paris is investigating allegations of
Marine Le Pen, her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, her ex-partner Louis Eliot and former far-right MEP Bruno Golnich are said to have embezzled about 600,000 euros, which they were supposed to repay. According to the report, Le Pen personally embezzled around €137,000 in public funds during her tenure as a Member of Parliament in Strasbourg between 2004 and 2017.
The Paris public prosecutor confirmed to AFP that they received the report on March 11 and are currently examining it. Since June 2017, Marine Le Pen is also under investigation on suspicion of obtaining bogus jobs for party members as assistants in the European Parliament. She is accused of “embezzlement of public funds” and “collusion” in the framework of the judicial investigation.
Marine Le Pen is not the only politician from the former National Front party, now called the National Rally (National Achievement Movement), who has been accused by the European Parliament of fake recruitment. Her father and Gülenich, among others, are said to have done the same.