The leader of the French extreme right Marine Le Pen and eight other euros of their party have been declared guilty for embezzlement in relation to the case of false parliamentary assistants through which they diverted funds from the European Union (EU) worth 2.9 million euros.
It has also been condemned to Four years in prison -Two of them firm- and five years of disqualification with provisional execution. You will also have to pay a fine of 100,000 euros. According to the president of the Court, Bénédicte de Perthuis, is a “necessary measure” while confirmed that she has confirmed that It will be applied immediately.
This LE PEN aspirations for the 2027 elections and that left the Courtroom and the Palace of Justice before all the details of his penalty were announced. They have also been condemned to inelegability. “This aims to guarantee that elected charges, like all litigants, do not benefit from preferential treatment,” added Berthuis.
In addition, the other twelve attendees have been convicted for having received these funds through “fictitious contracts.” The President of the Court has explained that That embezzlement was carried out for “more than 11 years” in order to “reduce the load of the party.”
“It has been proven that all these people actually worked for the party” and that “the deputies had not entrusted to them any task” said of Perthuis, according to the newspaper Le Monde. In the same way, any political motivation in the sentence is ruled out.
“No one is being tried to get involved in politicsthat is not the issue. The question was whether the contracts were fulfilled or not, “he said, leaving as proven the existence of a” system “within the party that Le Pen had” adopted with authority and determination “after the death of his father, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
The trial, lasted two months (between September 30 and November 27, 2024) and the Prosecutor’s Office requested for five years of disqualification and five in prison, as well as a fine of 300,000 euros. In his appearance, Le Pen rejected all the accusations.
