France's Le Pen on trial for alleged misuse of EU funds

Marine Le Pen's long-awaited trial on embezzlement charges began in France on Monday.

The parliamentary leader of the far-right National Rally (RN) party is accused of misappropriating European Union funds alongside 26 other party members and associates.

Prosecutors at the Paris criminal court allege that Le Pen was one of several RN members who participated in a fake jobs scheme from 2004 to 2016.

Their investigations found that lower-level party employees, such as bodyguards, were given higher-tier titles, like EU parliamentary assistant, so that they could be paid with European money and not from the party's bank account.

RN decries 'persecution'

Le Pen, whose party scored major victories in legislative elections over the summer, faces being jailed, barred from politics for 10 years and fined €1 million ($1.1 million).

The RN has described the years-long investigation as a "persecution." Party spokesman Laurent Jacobelli told Reuters news agency that Le Pen was not worried and that the case was based on a misunderstanding.

"She knows that what we are accused of is having a different understanding, as a French party, of what an assistant role is, compared with the European Parliament's understanding," he said.

'Assistants' unable to describe their duties

The investigation against Le Pen, who is no longer an MEP and now sits in the French Parliament, found that many of the party's "parliamentary assistants" had trouble confirming what their day-to-day tasks had been.

In one instance, investigators uncovered text messages from a bodyguard asking if he could meet the MEP he allegedly worked under, months after his supposed job started.

The trial threatens to topple Le Pen's work normalizing her party's reputation after decades on the political fringe. The RN is facing a separate trial over allegations of illegally financing her 2022 presidential campaign.

es/nm (AFP, Reuters)