During his time in the European Parliament
Le Pen is said to have embezzled 600,000 euros
04/16/2022, 11:37 pm
According to a media report, the European Parliament has accused several members of the right-wing Front National of maintaining fake employment relationships. The allegations against party leader Le Pen are heavy: he is said to have invested money in companies for political purposes.
According to a media report, the EU’s anti-fraud agency Olaf has accused French right-wing populist Marine Le Pen and several of his confidants of embezzlement of €600,000 during his time as MEP. French news portal “Mediapart” on Saturday published excerpts from a new report by Olaf. Le Pen will face incumbent Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the presidential election next Sunday.
Le Pen’s lawyer denied the allegations. AFP news agency Rodolphe Bosselut said the runoff was an “instrumentalist” shortly before the election. Parts of the report are “facts more than ten years old”. Marine Le Pen was “not summoned by any French judicial authority,” he said. Neither he nor his client received the final report of the investigation that began in 2016. Marine Le Pen was questioned in writing in March 2021.
“Mediapart” published excerpts from the new Olaf report on spending by political groups in the European Parliament within the framework of its members’ mandates. Accordingly, Le Pen and others are said to have used the money for national political purposes, personal expenses or services to companies belonging to their party or faction.
Paris prosecutor is investigating the allegations
Marine Le Pen, his father Jean-Marie Le Pen, his former partner Louis Eliot and former right-wing MEP Bruno Gollnish are said to have embezzled around 600,000 euros, which he had to pay back. According to the report, Le Pen personally embezzled approximately €137,000 in public funds during his tenure as Strasbourg MP between 2004 and 2017.
The Paris prosecutor confirmed to AFP news agency that they had received the report on March 11 and are currently investigating it. Since June 2017, Marine Le Pen is also being investigated on suspicion of obtaining bogus employment to party members as assistants to the European Parliament. He has been charged with “misuse of public funds” and “participation” as part of the judicial investigation.
Marine Le Pen is not the only politician from the former Front National (FN) party, now known as the “Resemblment Nationale” (national collection movement), which has been accused of bogus employment by the Parliament of the European Union. His father and Golnish is said to have done the same.
