Paris (AFP)

Marine Le Pen's close adviser, Frédéric Chatillon, delivered confusing explanations Thursday on the use, for personal gain, of the profits that his company Riwal derived from the controversial sale of campaign kits to the Frontiste party.

Arrived in its third week of debates, the trial of the FN in Paris has abandoned its main component - the suspicions of scams to the detriment of the State- to dissect the comfortable expenses of the conductor of this system kits, during the 2012 legislative elections.

Back at the bar, Frédéric Chatillon, 51, lost the assurance of the first days, when he presented himself as the "omnipresent" savior of the communication of a FN riddled with debt. It was he who had broken the prices to provide posters, leaflets, websites and accountancy, in a record time, he had assured.

Rent his Parisian apartment, international travel, shopping for a Harley Davidson or a luxury watch for 12,000 euros, but also expenses of his wife which he is then separated ... So many fees paid between 2011 and 2013 with the accounts of Riwal, or its joint-stock company Dolmen, and which earned him to be judged also for "misuse of corporate assets".

At the time, its turnover comes almost exclusively from its services for the National Front (now 2018 National Gathering). The cost of campaign kits - some 9 million euros - being paid to Riwal by Jeanne, the micro-party of Marine Le Pen, once obtained the reimbursement of the State for candidates who have collected more than 5% of the vote .

- "Copyright" -

Frédéric Chatillon assumes his lifestyle of the time - "10 to 15,000 euros per month" - and contests any misappropriation: "every year, I regularized," he says. At the end of the year, the shadow adviser of the FN president was attributed in royalties, essentially, the amount equivalent to the expenses assumed by Riwal.

"Why do not you decide to pay yourself?", The president wonders.

"I have an annual report, I said everything, everyone controlled me and I was not straightened," he retorts, without answering.

For the prosecution, these numerous trips abroad, in particular to Shanghai, Moscow or Slovenia, are "travel of pleasure".

He says: "I took advantage of these trips to make contacts on the spot, I already know at the time that my development will not happen in France, so I'm firing on all woods". Visibly without success.

Beirut? This is to go to Damascus where, despite the war, "I kept an office (...) because I had an intense activity with the Ministry of Tourism and a chocolate maker and I had development prospects" .

Punta Cana with his daughters? A vacation, "I paid off before the investigation".

Milan? "I went with Marine Le Pen during the presidential elections of 2012." What is the benefit? ", Insists the court. "I was with Marine, I was taking photos," he says laconically, before digressing again: "I was one of the pillars of the communication of his campaign".

"The frame was not very clear, no benefits were formalized", replies the president, skeptical.

Among these alleged misappropriations, the court also examines about 1.4 million euros that Riwal has paid from 2011 to 2013 to Unanime, the company of his current companion, Sighild Blanc, also warned but absent since the beginning of the trial.

Graphic designer then artistic director for Riwal since 2001, she suddenly put herself at the end of 2010, while continuing to work almost exclusively for Mr. Chatillon.

Behind these large bills, mainly for the rather standardized design of the websites of the FN candidates, the investigation suspects over-inflated benefits to hide the benefits of Riwal for the benefit of the couple. Mr. Chatillon assures him that their common history only began in 2013.

The debates coming to an end, the requisitions of the parquet floor of Paris are expected on Wednesday before two days of defense pleadings.

© 2019 AFP