French Opposition leader Marine Le Pen has been handed a four year-prison term, suspended for two years for embezzling funds from the European Parliament. She is also barred from contesting elections, and she will be appealing the decisions. The next Presidential elections in France are in 2027.
Marine Le Pen and other members of the National Rally were convicted of embezzling EU Funds from the European Parliament from 2004 to 2016. The funds were meant to be used for staff of the European Members of Parliament, but the National Rally syphoned these funds to pay employees of the National Rally in France who worked on national campaigns that were not related to EU work or the EU Parliament.
Members of the European Parliament are given up to €29,000 every month to pay for their resources, staff and trips. The National Rally embezzled up to €2.9 million of these funds, with Le Pen personally being responsible for embezzling €474,000.
The evidence brought by the prosecutors in the case was very extensive and included chat logs, staff testimonies and internal party documents.
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