Survey FN funding: Marine Le Pen heard as an assisted witness – Boursorama

The President of the Navy Front National Le Pen, January 4, 2016 in Lille (POOL / AFP / DENIS CHARLET)

The president of the National Front, Marine Le Pen, January 4, 2016 in Lille (POOL / AFP / DENIS CHARLET)

When contacted by AFP, Marine Le Pen has not responded after this hearing, which lasted all morning, sources close to the investigation.

Marine Le Pen had already been called twice this fall as an assisted witness (an intermediate status between mere witness and indicted), but she had refused to appear before the magistrates.

The instruction, in which the FN was indicted, was opened in 2014 and covers the legislative and president in 2012. The judges suspect financial leaders of the party and a close society movement, Riwal, have set up a fraudulent enrichment system with public money.

At issue for the legislative, campaign kits (leaflets, posters, postcards) at 16,650 euros, provided by Riwal 525 Frontists candidates through loans from a satellite microparti FN, Jeanne. Investigators suspect behind this complex assembly inflated benefits and overcharged on the back of the state, which reimburses campaign costs.

Another area of ​​suspicion, loan interest charged by Jeanne candidates, to 6.5%, or about 1,000 euros per kit and partially reimbursed by the state. Investigators question whether these loans were real, Riwal has advanced the costs of kits to Jeanne, or if they were intended only to burden the bill.

A total of several million Euro may have been misappropriated, what the FN, which denounced a political plot, denies. The party denies any billing and defends the homogeneity of the kits by the desire to frame the message of the candidates. The FN also said that the Jeanne microparti had to charge interest to its candidates, except for being accused of illegal aid.

Seven people were indicted, including two vice presidents of the National Front, Jean -François Jalkh Wallerand and treasurer of Saint-Just and the boss of Riwal, Frédéric Chatillon. Jeanne and Riwal also indicted as corporations. The FN is indicted for the misuse of company property and fraud complicity.

The judges also Riwal suspected of illegally funded the FN and Jeanne, donations or aid, as the free provision of premises or staff, the management of a bill of more than 400,000 euros or payment facilities.

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