The European Parliament intends to recover the sums “unduly paid” to Marine Le Pen – archyde

The European Parliament intends to “proceed for the recovery of sums unduly paid” during her mandate as MEP to Marine Le Pen, accused by the European anti-fraud office of embezzlement. The European institution “has seized Olaf (office anti-fraud European Union) after having discovered some of the irregularities” reproached to the far-right candidate in the French presidential election and to three other former MEPs, explained one of its officials to AFP. “In total we speaks of 617,000 euros unduly paid, ”he said. “Now we are going to proceed in the coming weeks to recoveries from the interested parties”. The case was revealed on Saturday by the French news site Mediapart. The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that it had received Olaf’s report on March 11 incriminating Marine Le Pen. Her father, Louis Aliot and Bruno Gollnisch also concerned within the framework of their mandate as MEP and that Marine Le Pen and those close to her allegedly used for national political purposes, for personal expenses or for services for the benefit of commercial companies close to her party, the National Rally (RN) and of the far-right parliamentary group Europe of Nations and Freedoms (ENL). The three other former MEPs implicated are his father Jean-Marie Le Pen, his former companion Louis Aliot and Bruno Gollnisch, member of the national office of the RN and the ENL. The office accuses them with Marine Le Pen of having embezzled around 600,000 euros, of which it recommends reimbursement. Marine Le Pen questioned by mail in March 2021 public money from the Strasbourg Parliament when she was a MEP between 2004 and 2017. Olaf’s investigation has been open since 2016 and Marine Le Pen was questioned by mail in March 2021, said her lawyer Me Rodolphe Bosselut. The presidential election, which will face Emmanuel Macron in the second round, has been pursued since June 2017 in the investigation carried out in Paris on suspicion of fictitious jobs for party assistants in the European Parliament. She is indicted for “embezzlement of public funds” and “complicity” in this offense as part of this investigation. Her relatives protested against a “rough editing”. “Each time she is a candidate, a stink ball is thrown out to her, a few days before the election. This generally comes from elsewhere in the European Union, in one way or another, ”lamented Laurent Jacobelli, spokesperson for Marine Le Pen on RMC on Sunday. “The French will not be fooled by the attempts of the European Union and European institutions” for “interfering in the presidential campaign and harming Marine Le Pen”, judged the president of the National Rally Jordan Bardella C news-Europe 1-Les Echos.