French prosecutors have ordered far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen to stand trial over claims she used EU funds to finance party activities in France.
Former presidential candidate Le Pen will be joined by 26 other members of the National Rally (RN) party – formerly called the National Front – in the dock in March
All are accused of using EU parliamentary funds to pay for assistants who in fact worked for the RN.
Le Pen, who stepped down as an MEP in 2017 after her election to the French parliament, has denied the claims.
The charges carry sentences of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to double the alleged funds embezzled.
If convicted, the court could also declare Le Pen ineligible for office for up to 10 years – essentially thwarting her plan to make a fourth run for the French presidency.
‘Embezzlement and collusion in fraud’
The fake jobs inquiry began in 2015, with prosecutors alleging that starting in 2004, National Front eurodeputies including Le Pen took part in the fake jobs scheme.
Paris financial judges, to whom the investigations were entrusted, suspect that her party “concertedly and deliberately” set up a “system of misappropriation” of the payments, €21,000 per month, allocated by the European Union to each MP to pay for parliamentary assistants.
The accused include Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the co-founder of what became France’s most successful far-right party.
The party itself, as a legal entity, is suspected of receiving illicit funds, and of complicity in fraud.
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