Legal source: France asked EU Parliament to lift Le Pen immunity

French prosecutors have asked the European Parliament to lift the immunity of far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen over an inquiry into alleged fake parliamentary jobs, legal sources said Friday (14 April).

The revelation comes just nine days before France heads to the polls for a highly-unpredictable presidential election with Le Pen, who heads the Eurosceptic National Front, one of the frontrunners in the 23 April first round.

The demand was made at the end of last month after she invoked her parliamentary immunity in refusing to attend questioning by investigating magistrates on 10 March.

Marine Le Pen refuses to repay €300,000 in misused EU funds

France’s National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who is also an MEP and a frontrunner in the French presidential election in April-May, has defied a deadline set by EU authorities for her to repay funds they claim she has misspent.

The case is linked to an expenses inquiry in which the European Parliament has accused Le Pen’s party of defrauding it to the tune of some €340,000 ($360,000).

The parliament believes the party used funds allotted for parliamentary assistants to pay Le Pen’s personal assistant Catherine Griset and her bodyguard Thierry Legier for party work in France.

French investigators leading the case raided the party’s headquarters outside Paris last month in a bid to determine whether the National Front used European funds to pay for 20 assistants — presented as parliamentary aides — who were working for the party elsewhere.

But Le Pen shrugged off the request, saying it was “normal”. “It’s totally normal procedure, I’m not surprised,” she told Franceinfo radio.

French prosecutor's office eagerly awaits launch of European equivalent

France’s anti-corruption efforts were boosted three years ago with the creation of a national finance prosecutor’s office (PNF). The planned European Public Prosecutor’s Office could simplify its now high-profile investigations. EURACTIV France reports.

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