France election: Marine Le Pen is said to have embezzled EU funds

Created: 04/17/2022, 15:40

Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is accused of embezzling EU funds.

(Archive photo) © Aurelien Morissard/Imago

Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen comes under pressure shortly before the second round of elections: she is accused of embezzling EU funds.

Paris – In the middle of the French election campaign*, allegations of embezzlement against the right-wing presidential candidate Marine Le Pen* caused a stir.

A report by the EU anti-fraud authority Olaf with allegations against Le Pen was received on March 11 and is currently being examined, the Paris public prosecutor said on Sunday at the request of the

The investigative news portal

published parts of the paper on Saturday.

According to the report, Le Pen is accused of embezzling almost 137,000 euros in EU funds during her time as an MEP between 2004 and 2017.

Misappropriation of EU funds: allegations against three other party members

Le Pen's lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut, who

quotes 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 time of publication shortly before the second round of the French election * on April 24th.

In addition to Le Pen, according to

, three other former MEPs from her party - then Front National, now 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 good 486,000 euros as intended.

Funds that can actually only be used in the context of the activity as a member of the European Parliament have been spent for national policy purposes, for example, or to support service providers who are close to the party.

Marine Le Pen under pressure: accumulation of accusations

Aliot, today the mayor of Perpignan, rejected the allegations on Sunday on

.

Olaf and

are operating outside the law and he is hoping for legal action to find out where the leaks came from and how the investigation went, Aliot said.

The allegations are not the first of their kind to incriminate Le Pen and her party.

Allegations of bogus employment have been floating around for years.

It is about the possible employment of assistants to several French MEPs who were paid with money from the EU Parliament but actually worked for the party.