Le Pen appears in court on charges of misuse of public funds

The head of the parliamentary bloc of the National Rally party in France, Marine Le Pen, and 26 members of her party will appear before the court on charges of creating fictitious jobs for assistants to European representatives from her party.

According to BFMTV, citing the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office, two judges made this decision at the request of the Public Prosecution yesterday, Friday, to prosecute 27 people from the National Rally Party.

For its part, the National Rally Party confirmed that no violations had been committed by its members in the context of the case filed against the party’s president and her deputies.

The party told the channel: “We officially reject the accusations against our representatives and parliamentary assistants,” noting that the session will allow them to present their evidence and arguments.

According to the channel, the investigation includes 27 people, including Marine Le Pen, her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front party, and former European representatives and their assistants.

Prosecutors are demanding that the main defendants be tried before a correctional court in Paris on charges of “misuse of public funds” of the European Union between 2004 and 2016.

The session also calls for charges to be brought against Perpignan Mayor Louis Allot, and Le Pen's right-hand man, Bruno Gollniche, who are accused of using European Parliament funds to pay for the work of aides who actually worked only for the National Rally party.

Le Pen's circle considered such a request "wrong" against opposition representatives, noting that it "appeared strangely during the pre-election period."

Earlier, it was reported that the former head of the right-wing National Rally party, Marine Le Pen, paid the amount of 330,000 euros requested by the European Parliament as part of the investigation into the alleged fictitious employment of two of her aides.