Police raid headquarters of French far-right National Rally party
The raid came a day after EU financial prosecutors in Brussels said they had launched a separate investigation into the alleged misuse of €4.3m by the former far-right Identity & Democracy (ID) group in the European parliament, which included the RN.
It also represented a fresh setback for the party after its figurehead, Marine Le Pen, was convicted in March of embezzling EU funds and barred from running for office for five years, effectively scuppering her hopes of running in 2027 presidential elections.
Bardella, 29, whom Le Pen has asked to prepare to campaign in her place, said on social media on Wednesday: 'RN headquarters – including the offices of its leaders – are being searched by about 20 police officers from the financial brigade.'
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Police and investigating magistrates had seized 'emails, documents and accounting' relating to 'the last regional, presidential, parliamentary and European elections', he said, calling the operation 'a serious attack on pluralism and democratic choice'.
The Paris prosecutor's office said the raid was part of an investigation launched in July last year that sought to establish whether campaigns in 2022 and 2024 were funded through 'illegal loans from individuals to the party or to RN candidates'.
The investigation would also look into allegations the party had included inflated or fake invoices in its claims for the state to reimburse its campaign finances, the prosecutor's office said. The offices and homes of several company executives were also searched.
The investigation involved 'acts that may constitute fraud, loans exceeding campaign finance regulations, aggravated laundering of fraud, forgery and the use of forged documents between 2020 and 2024', the prosecutors said in a statement.
The EU prosecutors' investigation follows a European parliament report alleging that the ID group, which included MEPs from RN, Italy's Lega, Germany's AfD and other far-right parties, had improperly spent more than €4m of EU money.
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Most of the funds benefited companies linked to a former Le Pen adviser and his wife, a consortium of European newspapers including Le Monde has reported. ID was disbanded last year and has been succeeded by a new group, Patriots for Europe.
Le Pen has appealed against her conviction and has said she hopes it will be overturned so she can make her fourth run for the Elysée in two years' time. Polls suggest either she or Bardella would be strongly placed to win.
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