Marine Le Pen was struggling for seven long hours, on Wednesday, October 2, before being able to say what was on her heart, shortly before 9 p.m. The president of the court, Bénédicte de Perthuis, has a calendar and respects it.
It was a question for the former president of the National Group (RN, National Front at the time of the events, FN) to give “some elements of context” in the trial of the assistants of the European Parliament that opened on Monday in Paris. The FN is accused of having taken advantage of the European budget to “feed” the party.
The court projected tables demonstrating, for the Prosecutor’s Office, that the 27 defendants embezzled 3,213,000 euros between 2004 and 2016. But the case is complex, and the RN, a legal entity, so to speak, is also being prosecuted for “complicity and concealment.” of embezzlement of public funds.” Therefore, he must also be responsible for the contracts of parliamentary assistants who have not been individually prosecuted: the bill therefore amounts to 4,503,000 euros. Shock of the lawyers who had missed these decisive lines of the accusation.
Another disappointment is that the prevention period, the one during which the facts are pursued, could be extended: the prosecutor’s office will accept new requisitions. Much to Marine Le Pen’s dismay: “The investigating judge questioned us about a specific prevention, said the deputy, And today we are told that maybe it will be five years earlier or five years later! » He also wanted to indicate that in the file there were “a lot of preconceived ideas, which were manufactured by the civil part [le Parlement européen]. “We try to enter a tunnel from which we cannot escape.”.
The administration “makes mistakes”
The president of the RN assures that “The leadership of the European Parliament is not neutral, it is political”. Furthermore, the administration “We have the impression that it is surrounded by white people, but it makes mistakes like all administrations”for example, losing files. Then she estimates “It would be regrettable not to admit that we are the bête noire of the European Parliament: the idea that there could be deputies who oppose this construction of the European Union is something disturbing, even if we are elected for that”.
It comes after a serious accusation against the investigators of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), which was at the origin of the investigation, and which would have “he promoted his ideas in Parliament, which promoted them in the judicial investigation”. The Office would have waited until June 2014, when RN’s MEPs increased from 3 to 24, to launch an investigation into the party, before, in mid-July the following year, suspending the salaries of all party assistants. FN – only to fail six.
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