French prosecutors say they are considering a report by the EU’s anti-fraud agency accusing far-right presidential candidate Marin Le Pen and some of her colleagues of embezzling thousands of euros in EU funds.
Ms. Le Pen, 53, is a French lawyer and politician who is currently challenging Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the 2022 French presidential election.
However, opinion polls show that Macron, who has been president of France since 2017, is ahead in the runoff.
On Sunday, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced that it was investigating a report it received from the European Anti-Fraud Agency (OLAF) on March 11th.
An OLAF report alleges that Ms Le Pen embezzled € 140,000 in public money from members of her National Rally party, diverting a total of € 617,000, according to investigative website Mediapart.
Image: Screen shows French President Emmanuel Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen at her election headquarters in Paris
Ms Le Pen and her colleagues are not accused of making a direct profit, but of asking for EU funding for staff and events.
Her office could not be immediately opened for comment.
Commenting on the reports, National Rally President Jordan Bardella told Radio Europe 1: “The French will not be fooled by attempts by the European Union and the European institutions (…) to interfere in the presidential campaign and harm Marin Le Pen.”
He said his party had filed two legal complaints against OLAF and would file a third in response to the report.
Ms Le Pen’s lawyer, Rodolphe Boselut, told BFM TV that his client denied the allegations, adding that she had not yet been questioned and that neither he nor Le Pen had seen the OLAF report.
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Ms Le Pen has been under investigation since 2017 as part of an investigation into the alleged misuse of European Union funds to pay parliamentary assistants.
Pro-European centrist Macron won the presidency in 2017 after easily defeating Ms. Le Pen when voters gathered behind him in the runoff to keep her far-right party out of power.
An initial vote last Sunday marked the beginning of the same battle in the second round, although the current French president faces a much tougher challenge, with both sides desperate to court those who backed left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who finished third in the second round. the first round on April 10 with about 22% of the vote.
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