French presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen today pleaded not guilty at the start of a £5.6 million embezzlement trial, saying: “We have not broken any rules.”
The far-right agitator, 56, seemed confident and relaxed at the start of a process that could land her in prison for 10 years and ban her from standing in elections.
On Monday he was in the dock at the Paris Correctional Court alongside 24 members and staff of his National Rally party in a case focused on the EU.
They are all accused of stealing a total of €6.8m (£5.6m) of European taxpayers’ money by creating fake jobs in the European Parliament over a period of at least 10 years.
Dressed in a light gray coat over a black jacket with a white blouse, Le Pen spoke to reporters as she entered courtroom 11 of the Paris Correctional Court and said: “I have confidence in justice.” I am here to present our arguments. I’m very calm.’
Marie Le Pen pleaded not guilty at the start of a £5.6 million embezzlement trial on Monday at the Paris Correctional Court.
French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) MP Marine Le Pen (C) arrives at a court for a trial on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds, in Paris, September 30, 2024.
The qualified lawyer demanded acquittal, stating: “Parliamentary freedom is at stake.” We haven’t broken any rules.”
Meanwhile, a prosecution document of at least 160 pages, including evidence collected over the past nine years, was shown in court.
It alleges that Le Pen, an MEP in Brussels from 2004 to 2017, created a “sophisticated billing system” to divert cash to party funds in Paris.
Among those involved, all of whom deny wrongdoing, are other leaders of the National Assembly (RN), which until 2018 was called the National Front (FN).
Its founder is convicted racist and Holocaust denier Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is also the father of Marine Le Pen.
He was also due to appear as a defendant, but doctors said the 96-year-old could stay away due to his “deteriorating health condition.”
Embezzlement is a crime punishable in France by “up to 10 years in prison,” and penalties that judges can also impose include “one million euros in fines or double the proceeds of crime,” said a source from the prosecution.
He added that they have also requested ‘the additional penalty of deprivation of the right to be elected, for a maximum period of five years, or ten years for an elected or member of the government.’
On September 30, the trial against Marine Le Pen, 24 other people and the National Rally begins before the Paris criminal court, suspected of having embezzled funds from the European Parliament to pay party employees, a case with serious political risks for the far right leader
Ms Le Pen is currently one of 126 RN MPs, so if convicted she would be ruled out of the 2027 presidential election, even though she is currently one of the favorites to win.
The investigation into the RN fraud began in March 2015, when the European Parliament announced that it had referred possible irregularities to the EU anti-fraud office.
These were mainly salaries paid to parliamentary assistants and even Jean-Marie Le Pen’s bodyguard.
Le Pen came in second in 2022 behind Emmanuel Macron in the race to become president of France, after a similar result in 2017.
The party’s founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in turn, came second to Jacques Chirac in the 2002 presidential election.
Le Pen has already been convicted in a criminal court, notably for spreading racial hatred, denying the Holocaust and other racist crimes.
Earlier this year, the RN did so well in the European elections that President Macron called early national parliamentary elections.
This led the RN to say that they were preparing for government, and that party leader Jordan Bardella would become prime minister.
Bardella is a former EU parliamentary assistant for the RN, but is not involved in the current trial.
In fact, the RN was beaten to third place in the election by the leftist New Popular Front (NPF) and Macron’s Renaissance party.
Macron then appointed former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as prime minister, and he does not have a single RN or NPF minister in his government.
The RN embezzlement trial is scheduled to take place three afternoons a week until November 27.