Marine Le Pen’s aides in custody over fake job allegations and fund misuse in France
Paris, Feb 23 :Two aides of Marine Le Pen, far-right National Front candidate for the presidential election, were placed into custody over allegations of misusing European Parliament funds, media reports said.
Born 5 August 1968), she is a French attorney and politician. She is also the president of the National Front (FN), a far right wing political party in France.
Le Pen’s bodyguard Thierry Legier and her assistant Catherine Griset were detained on Wednesday and investigated over salaries they received from the European Parliament for their work as Le Pen’s parliamentary assistants, Xinhua news agency reported.
The custody came two days after police raided the headquarters Front National Party in relation with an inquiry into alleged misuse of European funds to pay party staff.
The European Parliament has accused Le Pen of paying party staff working in France with European Union (EU) funds worth 340,000 euros ($357,000), after she claimed they were European parliamentary assistants.
The French Front National (FN) leader was among the first to congratulate the US presidential winner and the “free” American people, quickly adding that the result was “good news” for France.
In December 2016, French prosecutor opened an investigation for breach of trust, fraud and forgery following the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) initial findings.
Le Pen, whose presidential bid is gaining momentum, dismissed any wrongdoing and described the affair as “a political plot”.
Pollsters say the 49-year-old lawyer was likely to win the first round of voting on April 27. However, she would lose the run-off in May to whoever should be her opponent, although she narrowed the gap on her main rivals the conservative Francois Fillon and the centrist ex-economy minister Emmanuel Macron.
Styling herself as “the candidate of people”, Le Pen pledged to slash migration, send homes all illegal migrants and impose taxes on the job being done by foreigners.
The Front National leader’s 144-point manifesto for the 2017 presidential election was published the day before Le Pen’s key speech in Lyon which effectively kicked off her campaign. As with her programme from the 2012 election, her rhetoric on familiar themes is arguably every bit as important in terms of attracting voters as the policy details themselves.
Her record on “un-demonising” the far-right party previously led by her father Jean-Marie Le Pen is well documented. Now, as if to distance herself further, even the family name has vanished. The new label – on her website, on the podium in Lyon – simply says “Marine 2017”.
The people v the elites
This is the rallying cry of the FN leader – all the more so now the Trump tempest has blown in from the Atlantic, whipping up Brexit’s breeze.
In a key speech at Fréjus in the south of France last September, Marine Le Pen spoke repeatedly of “the people”: portraying essentially a French nation defenceless in the face of economic liberalism and multiculturalism imposed from abroad – especially the EU.
The message was repeated in Lyon, where she took world leaders to task over “unregulated globalisation”.
–IANS
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