2024-10-02 01:52:35
Trial begins in France against Marine Le Pen and a number of members of her National Rally party.
According to Day.Az, among the accused are Marine Le Pen, her father Jean-Marie Le Pen and 23 more party representatives who are to appear before the correctional court of Paris. They are accused of misusing EU funds from 2004 to 2016.
According to the prosecution, party members used these funds to pay parliamentary assistants, who actually performed functions for the party, and not for the European Parliament.
Marine Le Pen is also accused of organizing a “centralized scheme” to steal money from the European Parliament.
According to preliminary estimates, the damage is estimated at 6.8 million euros. If found guilty, Marine Le Pen faces up to 10 years in prison, a fine of 1 million euros, and a ban on participating in elections and holding public office for a period of 5 to 10 years. This could prevent her from running in the French presidential elections in 2027.