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Marine Le Pen
Photo: Thibault Camus / dpa
A week before the decisive run-off election in France, allegations of embezzlement against the right-wing presidential candidate Marine Le Pen caused a stir.
The investigative news portal Mediapart published parts of a report by the EU anti-fraud authority Olaf with allegations against Le Pen on Saturday.
In it, the politician is accused of embezzling almost 137,000 euros in EU funds during her time as an MEP between 2004 and 2017.
When asked by the media, the Paris public prosecutor confirmed on Sunday that the EU anti-fraud authority Olaf is currently examining the allegations against Le Pen.
They had already been received by the authorities on March 11th.
Le Pen's lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut, quoted by Mediapart in the report, denies the allegations.
The presidential candidate reserves the right to take legal action against former assistants or service providers who may have misappropriated funds or committed other misconduct without Le Pen's knowledge.
From Bosselut's point of view, the Olaf authority is not independent.
In addition, the lawyer criticized the timing of the publication shortly before the second round of the presidential election on April 24.
In addition to Le Pen, according to »Mediapart«, three other former EU parliamentarians from her party – which was then called Front National and is now called Rassemblement National – are named in the Olaf report: her father Jean-Marie, her ex-partner Louis Aliot and the former Vice-President of the party, Bruno Gollnisch.
All together are said to have not spent a sum of around 486,000 euros in accordance with the rules.
The accused had spent money that they were actually only allowed to use in the context of their work as MEPs, for example for national policy issues or to support service providers who were close to the party.
Aliot, today the mayor of Perpignan, rejected the allegations on Sunday on the Franceinfo station.
Olaf and "Mediapart" operated outside the law.
Aliot said he was hoping for legal action to find out where the leaks came from and how the investigation went.
Runoff election on April 24: It's going to be tight
The allegations are not the first of their kind to incriminate Le Pen and her party.
Allegations of bogus employment have been around for years: Assistants to several French MEPs are said to have worked for the party, but were paid with money from the EU Parliament.
In a week there will be a runoff between incumbent Emmanuel Macron and right-wing politician Marine Le Pen. In the first round of the French presidential election, Macron won 27.8 percent, Le Pen 23.1 percent.
Now the two will face each other again on April 24, like they did five years ago.
Only this time the distance between the two is much smaller, making it much more difficult to predict the result.
In recent polls, Macron was able to extend his lead over Le Pen.
According to an Ipsos Sopra/ Steria poll released on Saturday, 55.5 percent of those polled would vote for the 44-year-old incumbent president in the second round on April 24, compared to 44.5 percent for his 53-year-old challenger.
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