A sacred thorn in the foot removed. An amicable agreement was found between the French far-right party Rassemblement National and a Russian company which sued him for the non-repayment of a loan of around 9.6 million euros, a a Russian court announced on Wednesday.
“An amicable agreement was reached between the parties. The judge approved it, ”a spokeswoman for the Moscow arbitration court where the case was being played told AFP after a preliminary hearing in the presence of an RN lawyer. When questioned, the RN's treasurer, Wallerand de Saint Just, did not wish to comment on this agreement.
According to the Russian court, the full legal text confirming this friendly agreement will be published within five working days. A Russian firm had sued the French party for failing to repay a loan of more than 734 million rubles (about 9.6 million euros), taken out in Russia in 2014.
An interest rate of 6%
According to documents available on the website of the Moscow Court of Arbitration, the company Aviazaptchast, run by former Russian soldiers and specializing in spare parts for aircraft, filed a complaint against the RN on December 10. "Credit recovery". The RN had been notified of this procedure by mail on December 25, according to the website of the court.
After the payment of interest rates (which would amount to 6% according to the RN), the party had, according to the stipulated clauses, to pay some 9.6 million euros in one installment in 2019.
In March 2016, the debt was assigned to a Russian car rental company, named Conti, shortly before the trusteeship of the lending bank, the First Czech-Russian Bank (FCBR), which closed in July 2016. It was then sold to Aviazaptchast. RN treasurer Wallerand de Saint-Just said in early February that his party had "good relations" with his creditor and that he was "in the process of repaying" the loan.
A party on the verge of bankruptcy
The RN is experiencing financial difficulties, already in debt and weakened by other receivables. In France, the far-right party must in particular repay this year, on annual public aid to the RN (about 5.5 million euros), 4.2 million euros to the microparti Cotelec of the co-founder of the FN Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Political Newsletter
Every day, political news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
The party will also know on June 16 whether or not it is condemned in the financing of its campaign for the legislative elections in 2012. The French State claims nearly 11.6 million euros in damages.