The Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement Friday that they have requested a trial for over 20 National Rally (RN) members on suspicion of embezzling European public funds over 12 years, according to AFP. RN Leader Marine Le Pen and her father Jean-Marie Le Pen as well as other parliamentary assistants stand accused in the embezzlement scheme.
The prosecutor’s office started investigating potential embezzlement in December 2016, suspecting that Le Pen and other MEPs improperly used EU funds to pay their assistants to work for the National Front.
The National Rally told Reuters in a statement that they reject all the allegations and that the role of a parliamentary assistant is political.
Prosecutors also want to bring mayor of Perpignan Louis Aliot and deputy of the National Rally Bruno Gollnisch to trial for further collusion and embezzlement charges.
Le Pen and her party as are currently preparing for June’s European Parliament elections. However, if the judge decides to accepted the prosecutor’s office petition for a criminal trial, Le Pen could face a 10 year jail sentence, € 1 million fine and be unable to hold office for 10 years.
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