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European Parliament to collect 617,000 euro from France’s Le Pen for embezzlement — report

French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and her supporters accused of embezzlement, AFP reported Sunday citing EP sources

Marine Le Pen EPA-EFE/YOAN VALAT

Marine Le Pen

© EPA-EFE/YOAN VALAT

MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. The European Parliament (EP) intends to collect 617,000 euro from French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and her supporters, accused of embezzlement, AFP reported Sunday citing EP sources.

"The European Parliament contacted the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) after some violations were discovered," the source said. "Overall, we are talking about [embezzlement[ of 617,000 euro."

According to the source, the European Parliament plans to initiate the "collection of funds from the stakeholders in the next few weeks."

According to AFP, Paris Prosecutor’s Office received a report on March 11, claiming that Le Pen and her supporters allegedly used funds, provided to political groups within the context of their mandate in the European Parliament, for their personal purposes. The investigation was carried out by the Mediapart website.

Furthermore, according to the report, the presidential candidate embezzled some 137,000 euro from European Parliament’s funds between 2004 and 2017. The OLAF investigation was open in 2016; Marine Le Pen was questioned over the case in March 2021. Currently, the politician is being accused of embezzlement and being complicit in this crime.

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