Le Pen is "squeezed" in the second round of the elections, accused of embezzlement The presidential candidate and former MEPs of her party are accused of embezzlement
The far-right candidate in the French presidential elections, Marine Le Pen and former MEPs of her party are accused of embezzling[/B] about 600.000 euros from European funds during their time in the European Parliament.
The accusation is made by the European Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf), according to a new report revealed by the French news website "Mediapart" and handed over to the French judiciary.
The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed to AFP that it received the report on March 11 and that it is being analysed.
The new Olaf report, excerpts of which are published by Mediapart, concerns the funds that political groups are allowed to use during a term in the European Parliament and which Marine Le Pen and members of her party used for national political purposes, for personal expenditure or payments for the benefit of commercial enterprises - affiliated to her party, the National Rally, and to the far-right political group in the European Parliament, 'Europe of Nations and Freedom'.
And it refers to Marine Le Pen, three former MEPs - her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, her former partner Louis Aliot, and Bruno Golniss, a member of the Political Bureau of the National Rally - as well as the political group "Europe of Nations and Freedom".
According to the report, the National Rally presidential candidate is allegedly charged with embezzling 137,000 euros of public money from the Strasbourg Parliament during her time as an MEP from 2004 to 2017.
Since 2017, Marine Le Pen has been prosecuted under another investigation, concerning fictitious jobs in the European Parliament of her National Rally associates.
Her lawyer, Rodolphe Bosely, expressed surprise at the timing of the revelation, amid the campaign for the second round of the French presidential election, in which Marine Le Pen faces outgoing French President Emmanuel Macron.
In fact, Bosely said he was also surprised at the way Olaf works on issues related to events dated more than ten years ago as he said Olaf's investigation began in 2016 and Marine Le Pen answered the European agency's questions in writing in March 2021.
Source: APM
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