French judicial authorities have launched a preliminary investigation against Marine Le Pen - it is about suspicion of illegal loans during the presidential election campaign of 2022. Writes UNN with reference to Spiegel and BFMTV.
Details
The Paris prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into suspected illegal campaign financing of Marine Le Pen, leader of the Rassemblement Nationale (RN) for the 2022 presidential election. The decision to launch the investigation follows a report by the National Commission on Campaign Accounts and Political Financing published in April 2023.
According to the Paris prosecutor's office, the investigation concerns, among other things, a campaign loan and embezzlement of funds.
Help
Campaign spending in France is limited. The responsible commission scrutinizes the accounts of all candidates. Le Pen invested about 11.5 million euros in her third presidential campaign in 2022, but lost the 2022 presidential election to Emmanuel Macron in the second round.
Supplement
In June 2023, the French Court of Cassation approved the sentence of the Rassemblement Nationale (RN) for overcharging for campaign kits used by far-right candidates in elections.
In addition, Marine Le Pen is awaiting trial along with 24 RN representatives in a trial in which she will be charged in September with misuse of European funds to pay MEP assistants between 2004 and 2016.
Recall
Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rassemblement party doubled its seats in the French parliament despite coming third, and said her "victory is only delayed" because of the "unnatural alliance" against her.