EU court rejects Le Pen heirs' appeal in expenses scandal
Le Pen appealed and, after his death earlier this year, the proceedings were taken up by his daughter Marine Le Pen, who leads France's far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, and her siblings.
"The General Court dismisses the action brought by Mr. Le Pen and his heirs," the court, the lower chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union, said in a statement. "The procedure which led the Parliament to adopt the recovery decision and to issue the debit note is not contrary to the principles of legal certainty and the protection of legitimate expectations." The ruling can be appealed.
The money involved was incorrectly claimed by Le Pen under the so-called "budget line 400," which is mainly intended to cover European lawmakers' office rental and equipment costs. Parliament subsequently demanded that Le Pen repay €303,201.
died in January, aged 96.
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