Fraud allegations against Le Pen - EU Parliament probably wants to reclaim funds
Created: 04/18/2022, 21:55
Marine Le Pen, presidential candidate of the Rassemblement National, gives a speech during a campaign event (archive image) © Laurent Cipriani/dpa
The important TV duel before the French runoff election is approaching - and it's getting uncomfortable for Le Pen again.
Her lawyer rejects EU accusations.
Paris - Will Marine Le Pen manage to become president of France this time?
She is already in the runoff on April 24th.
In the election campaign, she and incumbent Emmanuel Macron are also personally hostile.
A week before the decisive round of the French presidential election, allegations of fraud from Brussels are now putting challenger Le Pen under pressure.
In the midst of the preparations for the only and possibly decisive television duel with Macron on Wednesday, the news broke that the EU anti-fraud authority Olaf accuses the right-wing populist and some of her confidants of embezzling around 600,000 euros.
France election 2022: Le Pen is said to have diverted EU funds
The French news portal
Mediapart
published the Olaf report on Saturday (April 16), according to which Le Pen is said to have siphoned off around 137,000 euros in EU funds during her time as an MEP between 2004 and 2017 for domestic political purposes and personal expenses, among other things .
In total, she and three other former MPs, including her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, are said to have embezzled around 600,000 euros in grants for the parliamentary groups.
In addition, Marine Le Pen is said to have provided party members with bogus jobs as assistants in the European Parliament.
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France election 2022: Le Pen's lawyer rejects allegations
The Paris prosecutor confirmed to the AFP news agency that they received the report on March 11 and are currently examining it.
According to a representative, the EU Parliament now wants to reclaim all amounts.
Le Pen's lawyer denied the allegations.
Rodolphe Bosselut said it was an "instrumentalization" just before the run-off in France's presidential election on Sunday.
Despite age-old allegations, Marine Le Pen was “not summoned by any French judicial authority”.
Neither he nor his client had received the final report of the investigation launched in 2016, the lawyer added.
France election 2022: Le Pen under pressure shortly before the TV duel with Macron
The allegations come at an inconvenient time for Emmanuel Macron's rival.
Her only televised debate with the 44-year-old incumbent will take place on Wednesday, four days before the runoff.
The debate gives her the chance to correct the "fake news" that has been spread about her, said the right-wing populist during an election campaign appearance in Normandy on Saturday.
The 53-year-old was convinced that this time she was better prepared for the television debate than during the duel during the 2017 presidential election campaign. At that time, Macron gave his opponent no chance in front of the cameras, and a few days later he won the runoff election by a clear margin.
Macron expressed confidence on the TF1 television channel that he could win the duel again.
According to the latest polls, Macron would hold 53 to 55.5 percent of the vote on Sunday and Marine Le Pen 44.5 to 47 percent. Up to a quarter of the French could therefore stay away from the polls.
(AFP/cibo)
