She was driving on the motorway with a licence that had been invalidated fifteen years ago. During a road check in Pas-de-Calais this Friday, National Rally MP Christine Engrand had her vehicle taken away for driving without a licence, a source close to the case told Le Parisien.
The incident occurred this morning on the A16 motorway. Christine Engrand, MP for Pas-de-Calais, was initially arrested and fined for driving while using her phone while driving.
The soldiers from the motorised gendarmerie brigade then carried out the usual checks and noted other offences: the elected official was driving with a zero-balance driving licence dating from 2009, in a vehicle with a technical inspection defect. The RN elected official’s car was then immediately seized.
Controversy over questionable use of mandate fees
Contacted by Le Parisien, Christine Engrand assures that she “has her license” and mentions an administrative “error”, while explaining that she still has “points” on her license. Contacted while she was still at the Boulogne-sur-Mer gendarmerie, the MP also assured us that her file would be “settled on Monday” and that, by then, the gendarmes would give her “a provisional document” so that she could leave with her vehicle.
This incident comes as the far-right MP is already accused of using mandate fees for personal purposes, as revealed in a Mediapart article published on Tuesday. According to the newspaper, the MP notably used her envelope, amounting to 5,950 euros per month, to pay for the boarding of her two dogs, representing “several thousand euros between 2022 and 2023”.
The expenses also include, according to the same article, a subscription to a dating site for 39.99 euros per month, and funeral expenses of 5,971.94 euros. The media estimates that “the disputed transactions exceed 10,000 euros of public money.”
Christine Engrand’s office itself had acknowledged “early-term blunders” and assured that “all reported expenses have been reimbursed for several months already.” According to our information, in the context of this case, Christine Engrand will soon be summoned before a delegation from the RN group in the National Assembly, for disciplinary purposes.
