Would-be President of France Marine Le Pen was tonight at the centre of a major criminal fraud enquiry – after she and senior colleagues were accused of stealing more than half-a-million pounds from the European Union.
EU investigators have accused Le Pen, 53, and her own father Jean-Marie Le Pen, 93, of embezzling some €620,000 (£513,000) on behalf of their party, the far-Right National Rally.
The allegations were made public on Sunday – exactly a week before Ms Le Pen goes head-to-head against Emmanuel Macron to choose France’s new president.
Le Pen, seen at Thursday’s rally, was said to be dismayed by the timing of fraud probe
Rodolphe Bousselut Rodine Le Pen, her lawyer, stated that Marine Le Pen was distraught and said that the release timing seemed deeply political.
Bosselut alleged that Olaf was the EU’s antisfraud agency and that it had gathered ‘old facts more than ten year old’.
He said, “Marine Le Pen contests that.” Without having access to all the allegations, she contests them. This is a manipulative act, which unfortunately I am not surprised by.
Mediapart in Paris, a news agency specializing in investigative journalism, published the Olaf report of the fraud claims.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, aged 93, was pictured before an EU court in 2017. He has been accused for misuse of money
They are accused of diverting £517,000 in EU funds to their party and own causes (file image)
They accuse Le Pen of personally diverting some £114,00 (€137,000) of EU funds taken illegally during her time as an MEP, between 2004 and 2017, into party coffers.
Her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen – who founded the National Rally as the National Front in 1972 – is also implicated.
Louis Aliot her ex-boyfriend, is now Mayor of Perpignan and also denies any wrongdoing Sunday.
Le Pen is also being investigated for ‘breach-of-trust’ and misuse public funds in connection to the alleged illegal EU use of cash to pay RN employees.
For example, it is believed that she paid thousands of dollars to a French Army paratrooper for her personal security.
France published opinion polls this weekend that show Macron leading next Sunday’s elections by as much as 10 points.
Macron defeated Le Pen in 2017 with 66%, while Le Pen had only 34%.