understand everything that is at stake in the trial that opens in Paris

After its relative failure In the legislative elections in July, the National Rally (RN) begins an eventful return to power at the judicial level. Twenty-seven people, including the president of the group in the National Assembly, Marine Le Pen, have been prosecuted since Monday, September 30, in the matter of the supposedly fictitious jobs of assistants to European deputies, which will last until November 27. before the General Assembly in Paris. criminal court.

The accused are suspected of having set up, between 2004 and 2016, a “diversion system” money paid by the European Union (EU) for the hiring of parliamentary collaborators, in order to finance the political activities of the far-right party that was then called the National Front (FN). Damage estimated at around 7 million euros by the European Parliament. Under threat of prison and disqualification, Marine Le Pen has always denied these accusations.

How did the matter start in the European Parliament?

On 20 January 2014, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) received an anonymous complaint about a “possible fraud”. This letter warns about cases of“alleged fictitious jobs”of the FN and its then president, Marine Le Pen, who was a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2017.

The European anti-fraud body opens an administrative investigation and examines the activities of two people close to Marine Le Pen: Catherine Griset, her chief of staff, and Thierry Légier, her bodyguard, both also presented as her parliamentary assistants. The investigation reveals that Catherine Griset, now an MEP, “It would have only taken 740 minutes, or about twelve hours” at the European Parliament, when he was supposed to be an assistant there, between October 2014 and August 2015. The OLAF report also describes “fictional” the employment of Thierry Légier.

In March 2015, the matter took on greater proportions. The President of Parliament, Martin Schulz, reports to OLAF possible irregularities relating to salaries paid to other employees. He reported these events to the French Ministry of Justice, after verifying that the FN’s organizational chart also included twenty parliamentary assistants; some even hold key positions with Marine Le Pen and the party’s former honorary president, Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Between 2004 and 2016, the European Parliament assessed the damage of this ” system “ at 6.8 million euros. In 2017, he demanded that Marine Le Pen reimburse almost 340,000 euros, a sum corresponding to the salaries of Catherine Griset and Thierry Légier. Faced with the leader’s refusal to pay it, Parliament’s financial services took several tens of thousands of euros from her chosen compensation before she left Brussels in 2017. Threatened with an enforceable recovery decision, Marine Le Pen eventually returned 330,000 euros in July 2023. His lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut, specifies that this “does not constitute in any way an explicit or implicit recognition of the claims of the European Parliament”.

What did the French investigation reveal?

Following Martin Schulz’s report, the French justice system opened a preliminary investigation in March 2015 for breach of trust, considering that these events could resemble illegal party financing. The investigations, entrusted to the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Fiscal Violations, gave rise to a series of searches, in particular at the headquarters of the FN. Investigators are collecting overwhelming testimonies and documents. Like the letter sent by the party’s former treasurer, Wallerand de Saint-Just, to Marine Le Pen, dated June 2014, in which he wrote: “We will only get out of this situation if we achieve significant savings thanks to the European Parliament. »

In December 2016, a judicial investigation was opened for acts of “abuse of trust”, “concealment of breach of trust”, “fraud by organized gangs”, “forgery and use of forgery” and “hidden work”. According to a summary report, “the study of the discovered documents (…) revealed the creation of a fraudulent system in which several FN executives were involved.

More than twenty indictments have been issued, including against Marine Le Pen in 2017 for “breach of trust” and “complicity in breach of trust.” This accusation was aggravated a year later in “embezzlement of public funds.”

In December 2023, at the end of a nine-year investigation, the investigating judges requested the referral to justice of the FN and twenty-seven leaders or employees. parliamentary assistants “They are not simple officials of the European Parliament, but rather they have a technical and political role”defended the RN after this decision. and to add that they have “Furthermore, he has the perfect right to engage in militant activities.”

Who is on the bench?

In addition to the fact that the National Group is being tried as a legal entity, several members or former members of the RN are among the twenty-seven defendants:

• Eleven MEPs elected under the banner of the National Front, including Marine Le Pen, the mayor of Perpignan, Louis Aliot, the former interim president of the RN, Jean-François Jalkh, the MEP Nicolas Bay, and even the former number two of the party, Bruno Gollnisch.
• Twelve people presented as parliamentary assistants, among them Thierry Légier, Catherine Griset, as well as the current RN deputies Timothée Houssin and Julien Odoul.
• Four employees of the party, including Wallerand de Saint-Just.

Also implicated in this case, former MEP and leader of the FN, Jean-Marie Le Pen, 96, will not be present during the trial due to his health.

What risk does Marine Le Pen run?

The head of RN deputies is prosecuted for embezzlement of public funds and complicity. Acts punishable by a prison sentence of up to ten years in prison and a fine of one million euros. He also faces a five-year disqualification sentence, which would constitute a major obstacle to the 2027 presidential election.

Regarding the outcome of the trial, Marine Le Pen’s entourage invokes a “Bayrou Jurisprudence” in reference to the February 2024 acquittal of the MoDem head in a similar case. François Bayrou was suspected of being the “primary decision maker” of a “fraudulent system” of embezzlement of European funds, between 2005 and 2017, by using Parliament’s remuneration for assistants who actually worked for MoDem. was released “for the benefit of the doubt” by the Paris criminal court. The prosecution appealed this decision. However, eight people, including five former MEPs, as well as the MoDem, were sentenced to suspended prison terms and ineligibility.

Why is Jordan Bardella involved in this matter?

In researching the book. The winning machine (editions du Seuil, 240 pages, 19.50 euros) published on September 13, the journalist from Release Tristan Berteloot reveals that Jordan Bardella would have participated in the fabrication of false documents intended to justify his activity as Jean-François Jalkh’s assistant between February and June 2015. The party, helped by the current president of the RN, would have subsequently falsified documents documents that serve as proof of the work done by Jordan Bardella in Parliament.

Mr. Bardella was never interviewed as part of the investigation, although he benefited from an assistant contract during the period examined during the judicial process. The reason? According ReleaseInvestigators focused on suspicions of major embezzlement, while Jordan Bardella was “only” paid 10,444 euros for four months.

In a press release, the RN says that it challenges “formally the false accusations contained in an article by Release »and let it be known that Jordan Bardella worked “without any infringement or irregularity, both with regard to the regulations of the European Parliament and French legislation.” Mr. Bardella announced that he wanted to file a complaint.