The magistrates closed the judicial information on the parliamentary assistants of the FN MEPs – franceinfo

The magistrates closed the judicial investigation concerning the assistants of MEPs from the National Rally, called at the time the National Front, France Télévisions learned from a source close to the case, Monday, September 20. About twenty elected officials and assistants are indicted in this case, including the president of the party, Marine Le Pen, as well as her father and former president of the party, Jean-Marie Le Pen. The different parties have three months to request acts, before the examining magistrate makes his final decision on whether or not to refer the case to justice.

This investigation was opened in March 2015 and entrusted at the end of 2016 to financial examining magistrates of the Paris court. The accused are mostly prosecuted for “embezzlement of public funds”. The RN and its leaders are accused of having “in a concerted and deliberate manner” set up a “diversion system” envelopes allocated by the EU to each deputy to remunerate parliamentary staff. These collaborators would have actually worked for the party, thus allowing it to save on its salaries.

The European Parliament, civil party, estimated its damage at 6.8 million euros in this case, which then led to separate investigations on the assistants of MEPs from the MoDem and La France insoumise. The RN, who disputes any misappropriation, was indicted in this procedure, also opened for “organized fraud” and “hidden work”.