Marine Le Pen begins trial for £5.6 million embezzlement in case she could be jailed for 10 years and banned from running in elections

French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen today pleaded her innocence at the start of a £5.6 million embezzlement trial, saying: ‘We have not broken any rules’.

The 56-year-old far-right rioter appeared confident and relaxed at the start of a trial that could see her jailed for 10 years and banned from running in elections.

She stood in the dock at the Paris criminal court on Monday along with 24 members and associates of her National Rally party in a case targeting the EU.

All are accused of stealing a total of €6.8 million in European taxpayers’ money by setting up fake jobs in the European Parliament over a period of at least ten years.

Wearing a light gray duster over a black jacket with a white top, Ms Le Pen spoke to journalists as she entered the 11th room of the Paris Correctional Court, saying: ‘I have faith in justice. I’m here to present our arguments. I’m very calm.’

Marie Le Pen pleaded her innocence on Monday at the start of a £5.6 million embezzlement trial at the Paris criminal court

French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) MP Marine Le Pen (C) arrives at a courthouse for a trial on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds, in Paris on September 30, 2024

Demanding an acquittal, the qualified lawyer said: “Parliamentary freedom is at stake. We haven’t broken any rules.’

Meanwhile, a prosecution document of at least 160 pages was shown in court – a document containing evidence collected over the past nine years.

It is alleged that Le Pen, a member of the European Parliament in Brussels from 2004 to 2017, set up a “sophisticated billing system” to convert cash into party funds in Paris.

Those involved – all of whom deny any wrongdoing – include other leading figures within the Rassemblement National (RN), which until 2018 was called the National Front (FN).

Its founder is convicted racist and Holocaust denier Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is also Marine Le Pen’s father.

He was also due to appear as a defendant, but doctors said the 96-year-old could stay away due to his “deteriorating health condition.”

Embezzlement is a crime punishable in France with “up to 10 years in prison,” and penalties also available to judges include “one million euros in fines, or double the proceeds of the crime,” according to a source from the prosecutor.

He added that they also asked “for the additional penalty of deprivation of the right to be elected, for a period of up to five years, or ten years for an elected person or member of the government.”

The trial of Marine Le Pen, 24 other people and the National Rally, suspected of embezzling money from the European Parliament to pay party workers, will begin on September 30 before the Paris criminal court – a case with serious political stakes for the leader of the party. far right

Ms Le Pen is currently one of the RN’s 126 MPs, so if she were convicted she would be barred from the 2027 presidential election, despite currently being the favorite to win.

The investigation into RN fraud began in March 2015, when the European Parliament announced it had referred possible irregularities to the EU’s anti-fraud office.

This mainly concerned salaries of parliamentary assistants and even Jean-Marie Le Pen’s bodyguard.

Ms Le Pen came second behind Emmanuel Macron in the race to become president of France in 2022, after a similar result in 2017.

Party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, in turn, came second to Jacques Chirac in the 2002 presidential elections.

Mr Le Pen has already been convicted by a criminal court, mainly for spreading racial hatred, denying the Holocaust and other racist crimes.

Earlier this year, the RN did so well in the European elections that President Macron called early domestic parliamentary elections.

It led to the RN saying they were preparing for government, with party leader Jordan Bardella set to become prime minister.

Mr Bardella is a former EU Parliamentary Assistant for the RN, but is not involved in the current process.

In fact, the RN was bumped to third place in the elections by the left-wing New People’s Front (NPF) and by Macron’s Renaissance Party.

Macron then appointed former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as Prime Minister, and he does not have a single RN or NPF minister in his government.

The RN blackout process will last three afternoons per week until November 27.