The Paris prosecutor’s office has recommended that the far-right leader Marine Le Pen and 26 members of her National Rally party stand trial over the alleged misuse of EU funds.
The request, which will be considered by judges, comes after a seven-year investigation into allegations that the party, then called the Front National, had used money destined for EU parliamentary assistants to pay staff who were instead working for the party between 2004 and 2016.
EU lawmakers are allocated funds to cover expenses, including their assistants, but are not meant to use them for party expenses. Rules state that assistants paid by the European parliament must work directly on Strasbourg parliamentary matters.
The case involves 11 MEPs, including Le Pen and her 95-year-old father, the former party leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, as well as 12 parliamentary assistants and four party collaborators. The party itself faces charges of concealing the wrongdoing.
From the start of the long-running investigation, Le Pen and her party have denied wrongdoing. In 2017, Le Pen said the allegations amounted to political “persecution” against her.
On Friday, the National Rally said in a statement: “We dispute this position, which seems to be an erroneous understanding of the work of opposition lawmakers and their assistants, which is above all a political one.”
Le Pen stepped down as an MEP in 2017 after her election to the French parliament. In France, her far-right, anti-immigration party is now the biggest single opposition party in parliament. Le Pen is preparing to run for president for the fourth time in 2027, when Emmanuel Macron will not be eligible to run again.
Her party is hoping to increase its number of MEPs at the European elections next June.
The allegations that Front National workers took staff salaries from the European parliament while doing separate work for the national party in France were first referred to the EU in 2015. In 2017, Le Pen was placed under formal investigation in France over the allegations that her party claimed millions of euros from the European parliament to pay for France-based staff.
The French investigation was triggered by a complaint from the European parliament, which accused the Front National of defrauding it on a large scale. An investigation by a European parliament watchdog claimed that between 2011 and 2012 Le Pen had illicitly paid party staff for Front National work using money that should only be used for MEPs to pay assistants for legislative tasks.
The European parliament estimated in 2018 that €6.8m (£5.9m) had been embezzled from 2009 to 2017.
None of those named are accused of personally profiting, but rather claiming EU funds to pay for party staff and events. Le Pen has said she was not aware of having done anything wrong.
On Thursday, Le Pen’s lawyer said she had agreed to pay back EU parliament funds sought in the fraud case, after an administrative procedure to recover the money.
The EU’s anti-fraud office (Olaf) had determined she owed €339,000 for illegally paying her party chief of staff, Catherine Griset, and bodyguard, Thierry Légier, with parliamentary funds.
Le Pen had previously refused to reimburse the money, prompting the EU to start docking her pay in her final months as an MEP.
She paid back almost €330,000 in July but the decision “does not in any way constitute explicit or implicit recognition of the European parliament’s claims”, said her lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut.
In a separate case, Olaf also alleges that about €600,000 of expense claims by Le Pen and three other MEPs actually financed party operations in France.
Last year, a French investigative website, Mediapart, published parts of allegations detailed in the EU anti-fraud body’s report that were passed to French prosecutors. In one incident, reported by Mediapart, Marine Le Pen made a claim in 2010 worth €5,000 for hotel rooms for 13 far-right party members to take part in a conference titled European Regions and the Financial Crisis. However, one of those taking part allegedly wrote to the European parliament and said the meeting was used to discuss the party presidency. The unnamed participant alleged to investigators that Le Pen had hung a European flag on the way for the purpose of having photographs taken, then ordered colleagues to “put that shit away”.
Le Pen’s lawyer said at the time that she denied and contested the allegations.
If a trial does take place, Le Pen could face a potential 10-year jail sentence, a €1m fine and, because she is an elected official, ineligibility to hold public office for 10 years, the prosecutor’s office said.
Several members of the French centrist party, Modem, go on trial next month in France accused of using European parliament funds to pay for work that was instead carried out for the party. The party and its members denied the allegations.
