Marine Le Pen is back at the helm, this time as former leader of the National Front. After a month of trial, she must explain herself on Tuesday November 5 during a final interrogation on the “system” set up, according to the accusation, to pay party employees with money from the European Parliament.
At the opening of the hearing around 2:00 p.m., the leader of the far right, wearing a black suit and boots, sat as usual in the front row to listen to the rest of the interrogation of her partner. -warned Wallerand de Saint-Just. His will start later in the afternoon.
Interrogation after interrogation, contract by contract, the Paris criminal court has been dissecting this famous “system” – the word puts Marine Le Pen beside herself – which would have allowed the National Rally (ex-FN) to “relieve finances” of the party between 2004 and 2016.
According to the accusation, the FN used the envelopes (21,000 euros per month) to which MEPs were entitled, to pay parliamentary assistants.fictional“actually working for the party.
During her first interrogation in mid-October, Ms. Le Pen swore that the parliamentary assistants she had hired as an MEP had worked well for her, repeating that she had done nothing wrong.illegal” – like the eight other former Frontist MEPs and twelve of their parliamentary assistants, tried alongside him for embezzlement of public funds and concealment of this crime.
The three-time presidential candidate will now be questioned under her second “cap“, president of the party, of which she took the lead after her father Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2011, this time to answer for complicity in the embezzlement of public funds.
The one who was “one of the main people responsible for the system“, according to investigators, has so far maintained at the bar having “suggested” – more “never imposed” – from parliamentary assistant to person.
“Marine knows all this…”
By far the most frequent at the hearings – she was there until 10:45 p.m. Monday evening – Marine Le Pen is champing at the bit, commenting that “ridicules“, “lunar“the questions from the magistrates to each of the defendants on these emails asking for”move“, “transfer“such parliamentary assistant”on“such MEP, for”empty“the envelopes of each deputy.
“I'm analyzing a budget, I don't know who the parliamentary assistants are and what they do. If my boss tells me to do something…“, said Charles Van Houtte on Monday, “kingpin” of “centralized management system” according to the prosecution.
Marine Le Pen, who faces a prison sentence, a large fine and above all a penalty of ineligibility which could hinder her presidential ambitions, should in particular be questioned about two meetings in the summer of 2014, in Brussels then in Strasbourg. According to several testimonies, she announced to the new European deputies that they would only have the right to one parliamentary assistant, and that the rest of their envelope would be for the National Front.
“What Marine (Le Pen) asks of us is equivalent to what we sign for fictitious jobs,” wrote shortly afterward a refractory MEP to the party treasurer, Wallerand de Saint-Just.
“I understand Marine’s reasons, but we’re going to get fired up because we’ll definitely be looking at our uses closely with such a large group.”(23 deputies against 3 previously), he also noted. “I believe that Marine knows all of this…”, replied Wallerand de Saint-Just.
“What are your observations on this email?“, President Bénédicte de Perthuis asked him on Monday, beginning to question him. “I say to myself what is this story, what is he telling me. I answer him seven words which are in fact the demonstration – I'm going to be rude – that he fuck it, and I'll send him away.”explained the former historic lawyer of the party, under the doubtful eye of the court.
“You don't have to believe me but I am convinced that Marine Le Pen would never have proposed something illegal to the deputies who have just been elected.”
A few days before this exchange of emails, he had written to his boss, to alert her about the expenses which tended to “to slip”. And warned: “We will only get through this if we save money thanks to the European Parliament.”
