PARIS, March 31. /TASS/. A court in Paris has found Marine Le Pen and eight MPs from the National Rally party guilty of misusing EU funds, a TASS correspondent reports from the courthouse.
Le Pen was found guilty of embezzling funds intended for hiring assistants in the European Parliament.
In addition, the court convicted 12 assistants, estimating the total funds involved at €4 million. It noted, however, that the guilty did not outright steal the money for themselves but rather directed the funds toward the party's needs.
The investigation into embezzlement began in 2014, when the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) demanded that Le Pen reimburse €339,000. The politician was accused of using European Parliament funds to pay the salaries of her office head, Catherine Grisez, and security guard Thierry Legier, while they were still employed by her party. According to the investigation, Le Pen allegedly orchestrated a financial scheme whereby EU funds were embezzled under the guise of paying non-existent assistants in the European Parliament.
Alongside Le Pen, the suspects include Louis Aliot, the mayor of Perpignan, and Bruno Gollnisch, the former vice-chairman of the National Rally. The prosecutor's office sought a five-year prison sentence for Le Pen, along with the loss of her voting rights for the same period.
The head of the National Rally's parliamentary faction categorically rejected the charges during the trial. Le Pen stated that the prosecutor's demands were an attempt to dismantle the party.