PARIS (AP) – Paris prosecutors are studying a report by the European Union’s Fraud Authority, which accuses far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and other members of her nationalist party of misusing public funds while serving in the European Parliament.
The report was published by French investigative news site Mediapart, just days before Le Pen faces incumbent Emmanuel Macron in a runoff election on Sunday that could determine the future direction of Europe. Le Pen’s National Rally party is trying to reduce the EU’s powers.
Le Pen denied wrongdoing and dismissed the report as “a foul play by the European Union a few days before the second round” of the election. At a campaign stop in Normandy on Monday, she said: “I’m used to it and I don’t think the French will fall for it at all.”
A similar EU fraud probe was announced ahead of the 2017 French presidential election, which Le Pen lost to Macron. Le Pen has been provisionally charged by French investigators in this pending case.
Macron, a pro-EU centrist, leads Le Pen in polls ahead of Sunday’s vote, despite the race being closer than 2017.
The EU’s fraud agency OLAF submitted its latest report last month to Paris prosecutors, who “analyze it in progress,” prosecutors said on Monday. No formal investigation has been launched and no further details have been released.
According to Mediapart, the OLAF report found that Le Pen, her hot-tempered father and party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen and other party members who worked in the European Parliament used €617,000 of public money for “fictitious” reasons, particularly in favor of party-affiliated companies . The fraud bureau is reportedly demanding a refund of the funds and possible charges of fraud and embezzlement.
OLAF accused party members of “serious violations” and said the “inappropriate conduct” by members of the National Assembly – formerly called the National Front – “endangers the reputation of the Union’s institutions,” according to Mediapart.
OLAF did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday, a public holiday in Belgium and several European countries.
It is not the first time that Le Pen has been accused of misusing EU funds. Among several lawsuits that have dogged her party, Le Pen was provisionally charged in 2018 based on a separate investigation by OLAF that accused members of her party of using advisers on the European Parliament payroll to the party’s political activity. Other French political parties have faced similar allegations.
Le Pen, who worked in the European Parliament from 2004 to 2017, smiled for selfies as she met with hundreds of voters in the Norman town of Saint-Pierre-en-Auge on Monday. A small group of Macron supporters came with placards to urge voters to block the far right from governing France.
You and Macron face a crucial debate on Wednesday.
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Jeremias Gonzalez contributed from Saint-Pierre-en-Auge.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the French election at https://apnews.com/hub/french-election-2022