Fall of Marine Le Pen: Far-right French leader could face jail term and 5-yr poll ban in EU embezzlement case

In a major turn of events, the Paris prosecutors have requested a five-year prison sentence and a same-duration ban from public office for far-right leader Marine Le Pen, at a trial in which she and 24 others are accused of embezzling funds of the European Union. The closely watched trial came almost a decade after the initial investigation into the matter began.

The court’s findings now threaten to undermine her National Rally (RN) party’s efforts to polish its image ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Le Pen was touted as the front runner in the upcoming polls before the scandal hit the newspapers again.

On Wednesday, prosecutors involved in the case requested a 300,000 euro (£249,439) fine, five years in prison and an ineligibility sentence against Marine Le Pen, with provisional execution. Hence, if the court finds her guilty of the charges along with the provisional execution, the far-right leader will not be able to run for the polls even if she makes an appeal to the higher court.

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What the case is about?

Le Pen, along with 24 party officials of the National Rally (RN), employees, former lawmakers and parliamentary assistants, were all accused of using EU funds to pay off staff who were working for their party in France. At that time, Le Pen’s party was called the National Front.

The ruling came months after the RN, just like other far-right parties around Europe, is riding high after a strong performance in the European election in June. “The law applies to all,” prosecutor Nicolas Barret told the court, as Le Pen sat in the front row of the defendants’ benches, adding that the ban would “prohibit the defendants from running in future local or national elections”.

After the trial, Le Pen slammed the prosecutors, accusing them of interfering in the upcoming polls. “I think the prosecutors’ wish is to deprive the French people of the ability to vote for who they want,” Le Pen later said. It is pertinent to note that the scandal was first flagged back in 2015. It covers parliamentary assistant contracts between 2004 and 2016.

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The prosecutors argued that the assistants who were part of the contract exclusively worked for the party and outside the parliament. While addressing the trial last month, Le Pen made it clear that she is innocent in the case. “I have absolutely no sense of having committed the slightest irregularity, or the slightest illegal act,” she told the court.

Meanwhile, the European parliament said that the legislature had lost 3m euros (£2.49m) through the jobs scheme. It is important to note that Le Pen’s party has already paid back one million euros, insisting that it should not be considered as admission of guilty.

With inputs from agencies.