Judicial setbacks continue for the former National Front, which has since become National Rally (RN). The Paris prosecutor's office announced on Friday to AFP to appeal the judgment of the criminal court which on Tuesday released Marine Le Pen's party from fraud charges in the funding of the 2012 legislative elections and condemned him only in a subcomponent of this case.
This call "relates to all defendants": the ex-FN renamed Rassemblement national as a legal person, but also several senior party officials or those close to Marine Le Pen, he said.
A “suspicious” determination
"The relentlessness of the prosecution against the RN is eminently suspect," reacted Ms. Le Pen on Twitter Friday evening, denouncing a "political instrumentalization of justice".
The determination of the prosecution against the RN (ex-FN) is eminently suspect.
Will we learn of the pressures, as for the National Financial Prosecutor's Office in the Fillon affair?
Democracy gains nothing from this political instrumentalization of justice. MLP pic.twitter.com/TJUTMu43Cv
This affair threatens the party with astronomical damages, which would weigh on its already exhausted finances: at the end of the trial in November, the State had demanded from the far-right party, renamed the National Gathering, the payment of 11.6 million euros in respect of this scam, corresponding according to him to election expenses reimbursed by public money.
But the Paris Criminal Court ruled on Tuesday that it had not found "fraudulent schemes" or evidence of overcharging behind the compulsory and uniform supply of campaign kits - leaflets, posters, websites ... - to party candidates and reimbursed by the public money.
“It's a micro-conviction in a sub, sub-component. The release of the FN is a great victory. We are whitewashed, and I am delighted, "said Marine Le Pen on Tuesday. But the judges, on the other hand, condemned the party to a fine of 18,750 euros for “concealing the abuse of corporate property”, the maximum amount for such an offense at the material time.
Facts deemed "particularly serious"
The magistrates therefore retained the guilt of the party only for having benefited from improper advantages with the communication company Riwal, in particular the fictitious employment of two current high officials of the party, Nicolas Bay and David Rachline, of the purchase equipment and especially the granting to the FN of an interest-free loan of several million euros for three years.
The court also stressed that "the facts seemed particularly serious" because they had "damaged the confidence of citizens in the functioning of political parties" and "democracy". Marine Le Pen and the National Rally are also under investigation in the case of European parliamentary assistants.
Justice
Campaign kits case: The FN sentenced to a fine of € 18,750 for “concealment of misuse of social property” by the State
Politics
National rally: The party has reached an amicable agreement on its unpaid Russian loan
- Marine Le Pen
- Justice
- Election campaign
- Fraud
- National gathering
- National Front