Searches took place at the homes of RN deputy Edwige Diaz, and former MEP Jacques Colombier.
They were carried out by the European public prosecutor's office as part of an investigation for "embezzlement of public funds" relating to "suspicions of fictitious employment" involving Jacques Colombier and Edwige Diaz.
The two figures of the RN denounce "false accusations".
Searches took place on Monday in several homes and workplaces of RN deputy for Gironde Edwige Diaz, as part of an investigation by the European public prosecutor's office for suspicion of fictitious employment.
The European public prosecutor's office has been leading a preliminary investigation in France since July 2021, for "embezzlement of public funds, complicity and concealment", relating to "suspicions of fictitious employment of a European parliamentary assistant" in "2018 and 2019", declared Monday in a press release the European public prosecutor's office.
He specifies that he was seized "in July 2021 by the Bordeaux prosecutor's office, on the basis of a report from the Anticor association", implicating "Jacques Colombier" (ex-MEP RN) and "Edwige Diaz", employee then by the latter as a parliamentary assistant.
Jacques Colombier was also the subject of searches on Monday and would have been placed in police custody, according to
Liberation
.
“Political revenge” according to the two figures of the RN
In a joint press release, Edwige Diaz and Jacques Colombier denounce "false accusations" which would be "the fruit of political revenge".
The MP for Blayais specifically challenges the referent Anticor in Gironde, and candidate for municipal elections in Ambarès-et-Lagrave in 2020. The latter "diverts Anticor's public utility work for personal ends", further accuses the parliamentarian .
Edwige Diaz and Jacques Colombier ensure that they are “able to justify every minute of Mrs. Diaz's work as parliamentary assistant to Mr. Colombier in the European Parliament, and are cooperating fully with the authorities to demonstrate the ridiculousness of [these] allegations.
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The investigation against the two figures of the RN, was opened by the heads of embezzlement of public funds, complicity and concealment, and entrusted to the Service of judicial investigation of finances.
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