French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has been accused, along with people close to her, of embezzling about 600,000 euros in European public funds during their term in the European Parliament.
This accusation was issued by the European Anti-fraud Office, according to a new report revealed by the French media site “Mediabar”, on Saturday, and sent to the French judiciary.
In response to a question by AFP, the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that on March 11 it had received this report, which is being analyzed.
Le Pen’s lawyer, Rudolf Boslow, told AFP he was “surprised” at the timing and “exploitation” of the report.
He stressed that he was “dissatisfied with the way in which the European Anti-fraud Office behaves”, stressing that part of the report relates to “old facts dating back more than ten years.”
He added that Le Pen “has not been summoned by any French judicial authority,” criticizing the failure to send the final report to him or Le Pen.
According to him, the European Anti-fraud Office investigation has been open since 2016, and Le Pen was questioned by mail in March 2021.
The new report of the European Anti-fraud Office, extracts of which were published by Mediabar, relates to expenditures that members of political groups can use in the framework of their mandate as MEPs and that Marine Le Pen and her associates may have used for national political purposes or for personal expenses or services for commercial companies She is close to her National Rally party and the far-right “Europe of Nations and Freedoms” bloc.
The European Anti-fraud Office accuses Marine Le Pen and three former members of the European Parliament, her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, her ex-boyfriend, Louis Alliot, and Bruno Golnich, a member of the National Office of the National Assembly and the “Europe of Nations and Liberties” bloc, of embezzling about 600,000 euros, and recommends her recovery.
According to the report, the National Rally candidate may have personally embezzled around 137,000 euros of public funds from the Strasbourg Parliament when she was a member of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2017.
Since June 2017, Le Pen has also been prosecuted as part of an investigation in Paris into the issue of fake jobs in the European Parliament for party aides.