France: prison sentence required against Marine Le Pen

She was at the “center” of an “organized system” intended to make the European Parliament a “cash cow”: this accusation against Marine Le Pen required five years in prison on Wednesday in Paris, including two years in prison that could be adjusted and five years of ineligibility against the leader of the French far right, which threatens her presidential ambitions for 2027.

The requested prison sentence is flexible, which means that the MP and leader of the National Rally (RN) would not necessarily go to prison.

However, it could prevent him from running in the 2027 presidential election: the public prosecutor has in fact requested that the penalty of ineligibility be accompanied by provisional execution, that is to say that it applies immediately, even in the event of an appeal.

Such pain would prohibit the defendants from running in future local or national electionssaid prosecutor Nicolas Barret in front of the three-time presidential candidate, seated in the first row of the 24 defendants (party executives, ex-MEPs and former parliamentary assistants).

However, we are here in a judicial forum and the law applies to everyone : justice cannot be accountable for ambitions everyone’s policies, he added.

I think that the desire of the prosecution is to deprive the French of the ability to vote for those they want and to ruin the party.

A fine of 300,000 euros ($443,500) was requested against him, in addition to a fine of 4.3 million euros ($6.3 million), including 2 million euros firm (2. $95 million), for his party. The prosecution is not in justice, it is in relentlessness and revenge against Marine Le Pen. His scandalous requisitions aim to deprive millions of French people of their vote in 2027. It is an attack on democracyshouted the president of RNJordan Bardella, sur X.

Organized system

The prosecution depicted in its indictment on Wednesday a organized system of misappropriation of public funds to the detriment of the European Parliament with artificial contracts parliamentary assistants in order to save money money to the party.

We are not here today due to persistence nor because of a denunciation of the European Parliament but in the end a long judicial investigationdeclared straight away, at the start of the indictment, one of the two representatives of the prosecution, Louise Neyton.

In turn, throughout their requisitions, the two prosecutors detailed the architecture of a system which, according to them, was implemented at the National Front (now National Rally) between 2004 and 2016, which consisted of hiring European parliamentary assistants fictional who actually worked for the party.

The European Parliament only makes accounting controlsfor the rest he does trust to MEPs regarding the use of their monthly allocation of 21,000 euros ($31,046): So, it’s too tempting, these envelopes will appear as a godsend and be used as suchinsisted the magistrate.

And this systemsays the prosecution, reinforced with the arrival, in 2011, of Marine Le Pen at the head of the party, with an employee responsible for managing European contracts, who reported only to the president, the order giver.

In 2014, after the election of around twenty MEPs FNthe party treasurer, Wallerand de Saint-Just, wrote: We will only get out of this if we make significant savings thanks to the European Parliamentrecalled the prosecutor.

She then spoke about the emails which indicate financial arrangementsof transfers of such an assistant on such MP depending on the availability of envelopes.

Anything

Facing la fiction alternative proposed as a defense, the prosecutors then delved at length into the details of the case. Warned by warning and contract by contract, they dissected for each the nature of the work carried out by the 12 parliamentary assistants, the subordination link that they maintain with their deputy European (nine, including Marine Le Pen, are tried in total for embezzlement of public funds).

With a general observation: in proof of work, there is nothingexcept the famous standard proof: the press review. Employment contracts? Artificialsans consistency. We are very happy with someone, but we part with them, then we take them backcommented Nicolas Barret.

Of the variable geometry declarationsor even anythingsummarized Louise Neyton.

The European Parliament assessed its financial damage at 4.5 million euros ($6.65 million) but is only claiming 3.4 ($5.02 million), a part having been reimbursed.

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