The France Police, on Wednesday (9), invaded the Marine Le Pen party, the National Reagruation (RN), to conduct searches in an investigation that investigates alleged illegal financing.
“All emails, documents and accounting elements of the first opposition party were seized, without us knowing what accusations are precisely,” Jordan Bardella, president of RN and Le Pen’s political godson, said.
Bardella adds that the search, performed at 8:50 am (local time, 3:50 pm Brasília), was conducted “by about twenty armed police from the financial brigade, using bulletproof vests, accompanied by two instruction judges.”
The deputy also said that they only know that the search aims at the “party’s electoral activity” – both in regional and presidential, legislative and European campaigns – and consider that the police operation is a maneuver of “harassment”.
“This is a serious attack on pluralism and democratic alternation. Never before an opposition party had been the target of such an attack on V-vs [quinta] Republic, “criticized Bardella.
The suspicions, according to the French press, refer to the financing of the electoral campaigns of the right -wing party through loans of rich militants. In addition, they claim that there may have been inflated invoices to increase the state’s reimbursements to the party, which in early legislative elections from a year ago became the second block with more deputies in the National Assembly (surpassed only by the coalition of leftist parties) and the first in terms of popular vote.
The investigation, which so far had no arrest made, was opened on July 3, according to the Jornal “Le Monde”, and is focused between 2021 and 2024.
New searches deepen party issues with regard to their accounts. In March, members of the subtitle, including Marine Le Pen, were convicted of the fraudulent use of 4.2 million euros from public funds from the European Parliament.
Le Pen was sentenced to four years in prison, two of them in a closed regime, although he could fulfill them in house arrest with an electronic anklet. In addition, it was ineligible for public and electoral positions for five years, whose application is immediate.
Although it may maintain its current seat in the National Assembly, the penalty implies that it may be prevented from applying for the French presidential elections of 2027 unless victorious comes out in the appeal process, scheduled for 2026.
In addition, earlier this month, “Le Monde” released the existence of another investigation against RN for possible new financial irregularities in the European Chamber.
According to this information, a new report by the European Parliament General Directorate of Finance accuses the former Direct Parliamentary Group Identity and Democracy (ID) – in force between 2019 and 2024 and of which the RN was part – of illegally distributed more than 4.3 million euros in donations to associations from various countries without respecting the rules on the use of these funds.
