Prosecutors Target Le Pen Over Funding In '22 Presidential Campaign

Reports emerging that prosecutors in Paris are looking to target the 2022 presidential campaign of right-wing Rassemblement National (National Rally, RN) candidate Marine Le Pen over allegedly illicit financing. BFMTV reports that the case opened against Le Pen includes allegations of "[providing] a loan from a legal entity to a candidate in an election campaign; acceptance by a candidate in a campaign of a loan from a legal entity; embezzlement of property by persons holding a public [office]; fraud committed against a public person; forgery and use of forgery,"

• Le Pen and other RN figures already face going on trial in a separate case in September regarding allegations that the party diverted taxpayer-generated funds allocated to European Parliament activities towards domestic politics. Bloomberg: "The criminal case centers on suspicions that Marine Le Pen and other party members elected to the European Parliament improperly used a budget line — which has since been increased to reach nearly €30,000 ($32,409) a month — allocated to pay EU aides."
• A conviction could do significant damage to Le Pen's aim of becoming president in the 2027 election. The Mirror reports that "prosecutors are seeking ‘the additional penalty of deprivation of the right to be elected, for a maximum period of five years,’ said a source close to the case", a sentance that if handed down would rule Le Pen out of the contest.