Latest news with #Bardella
Yomiuri Shimbun
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
French Police Raid Far-Right National Rally Headquarters in Finance Probe
PARIS (AP) — French police raided the headquarters of far-right party National Rally on Wednesday and seized documents and accounting records, the party's leader said, as part of a sweeping campaign finance inquiry. Prosecutors said they are investigating allegations of illegal financing of longtime party leader Marine Le Pen's 2022 presidential bid, and the party's European Parliament and French parliamentary campaigns. The National Rally, which seeks to sharply curtail migration and restrict Muslims' rights, is the biggest single party in France's lower house of parliament. Jordan Bardella, 29, who took over the presidency of the popular party in 2022, said that police seized 'all files relating to the party's recent regional, presidential, legislative, and European campaigns — in other words, all of its electoral activity.' Bardella slammed the raid in a message on X. 'This spectacular and unprecedented operation is clearly part of a new harassment operation. It is a serious attack on pluralism and democratic change,' he said. The raid came after Le Pen — runner-up to incumbent President Emmanuel Macron in 2022 — was convicted of embezzlement in April and barred from seeking office for five years. She and 24 other party officials were accused of having used money intended for European Union parliamentary aides to instead pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, violating the 27-nation bloc's regulations. But Wednesday's raid stems from a different, more recent case. The Paris prosecutor's office said in a statement to the AP that searches were carried out at the National Rally's headquarters, at the headquarters of unidentified companies and at the homes of people leading those companies. The searches were prompted by a judicial inquiry opened a year ago into a raft of allegations, including fraud, money laundering and forgery, the prosecutor's office said. The inquiry aims to determine whether Le Pen's 2022 presidential campaign, and the party's campaigns for European Parliament in 2024 and French parliamentary elections in 2022, were financed by 'illegal loans from individuals for the benefit of the party or National Rally candidates,' the statement said. The inquiry is also investigating allegations that the National Rally overbilled for services or billed for fictitious services in order to artificially augment the amount of state aid provided to the party for its electoral campaigns. The prosecutor's office says no one has been charged in the case. Bardella said on X that the investigation targets National Rally members who loan money to the party because banks won't, calling the raids a ″spectacle″ serving political ends. Former party treasurer Wallerand de Saint-Just told reporters outside the headquarters, ''We did nothing wrong.″ Le Pen has not commented publicly. The National Rally was born from a party with racist and antisemitic roots founded by Le Pen's father. In recent years, the party has broadened its messaging and seen its support rise steadily. It has longstanding ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and took out a loan from a Czech-Russian bank in 2014 because it said it could not get credit elsewhere. Le Pen had been considered a top contender for France's 2027 presidential election before her March conviction. While her appeal in that case is pending, she asked the European Court of Human Rights for emergency action to suspend the ban on running for office. The court rejected her request Wednesday, arguing that there was no ''imminent risk of irreparable harm' to her human rights.
Boston Globe
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
French police raid far-right National Rally headquarters in finance probe
Bardella slammed the raid in a message on X. 'This spectacular and unprecedented operation is clearly part of a new harassment operation. It is a serious attack on pluralism and democratic change,' he said. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The raid came after Le Pen — runner-up to incumbent President Emmanuel Macron in 2022 — was convicted of embezzlement in April and barred from seeking office for five years. She and 24 other party officials were accused of having used money intended for European Union parliamentary aides to instead pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, violating the 27-nation bloc's regulations. Advertisement However, Wednesday's raid stems from a different, more recent case. The Paris prosecutor's office said in a statement to the AP that searches were carried out at the National Rally's headquarters, at the headquarters of unidentified companies and at the homes of people leading those companies. Advertisement The searches were prompted by a judicial inquiry opened a year ago into a raft of allegations, including fraud, money laundering, and forgery, the prosecutor's office said. The inquiry aims to determine whether Le Pen's 2022 presidential campaign, and the party's campaigns for European Parliament in 2024 and French parliamentary elections in 2022, were financed by 'illegal loans from individuals for the benefit of the party or National Rally candidates,' the statement said. The inquiry is also investigating allegations that the National Rally overbilled for services or billed for fictitious services in order to artificially augment the amount of state aid provided to the party for its electoral campaigns. The prosecutor's office says no one has been charged in the case. Bardella wrote on X that the investigation targets National Rally members who loan money to the party because banks won't, calling the raids a 'spectacle″ serving political ends. Former party treasurer, Wallerand de Saint-Just, told reporters outside the headquarters, 'We did nothing wrong.″ Le Pen has not commented publicly. The National Rally was born from a party with racist and anti-Semitic roots founded by Le Pen's father. In recent years, the party has broadened its messaging and seen its support rise steadily. It has longstanding ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and took out a loan from a Czech-Russian bank in 2014 because it claimed it could not get credit elsewhere. Le Pen had been considered a top contender for France's 2027 presidential election before her March conviction. While her appeal in that case is pending, she asked the European Court of Human Rights for emergency action to suspend the ban on running for office. The court rejected her request Wednesday, arguing that there was no 'imminent risk of irreparable harm' to her human rights. Advertisement
Local France
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Local France
French police raid HQ of far-right Rassemblement National
The party of Marine Le Pen, the longtime standard bearer of the French far right, has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years. The 56-year-old politician, who has three times run for president, suffered a stunning blow in March when a French court convicted her and other party officials over an EU parliament fake jobs scam. The ruling, which Le Pen has appealed, banned her from standing for office for five years, effectively scuppering her ambition of running in 2027 presidential elections. Le Pen has asked her top lieutenant, 29-year-old party leader and member of European Parliament Jordan Bardella, to prepare to campaign in her place. News of the raid was made public by Bardella in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, in which he denounced the police probe as 'a new campaign of harassment'. 'Since 8:50 this morning, the headquarters of Rassemblement National — including the offices of its leaders — have been searched by around 20 armed police officers from the Financial Brigade, wearing bulletproof vests and accompanied by two investigating judges,' Bardella posted. 'All emails, documents, and accounting records of the leading opposition party are being seized, and at this stage we do not know the precise nature of the allegations on which this action is based. Advertisement 'All we know is that all the files relating to the latest regional, presidential, legislative, and European campaigns – in other words, all the party's electoral activity – are now in the hands of the courts. 'This spectacular and unprecedented operation is clearly part of a new campaign of harassment. It is a serious attack on pluralism and democratic alternation. 'Never has an opposition party been subjected to such relentless persecution under the Fifth Republic.' Contrary to Bardella's rabble-rousing rhetoric on, France's Parti Socialiste, the right-wing UMP (now Les Républicains), centrist MoDem and the hard-left La France Insoumise have all been subjected to similar judicial searches during the course of various investigations over the past decade. Police also carried out searches of former Health Minister Olivier Véran's office and home in 2020 when a probe was opened into the government handling of the Covid pandemic . Advertisement The Paris prosecutor's office said police had raided the party's offices as part of an investigation launched in July last year into alleged illegal campaign financing for the 2022 presidential and parliamentary elections, as well as the European polls last year. The investigation seeks to "determine whether these campaigns were notably funded through illegal loans from individuals to the party or RN candidates", the prosecutor's office added. It would also look into allegations the party had included inflated or fake invoices in its claims for the state to reimburse its campaign finances, said the office. Police also searched the offices and homes of several company bosses on Wednesday as part of the investigation covering the period of January 2020 to July 2024, it said. In a separate case, the EU's prosecutor said Tuesday it has launched a formal investigation into a defunct far-right group, which included France's RN, over the alleged misuse of European Parliament funds. According to the reports by a consortium of European media, most of the allegedly misused funds benefited companies belonging to a former adviser to Le Pen and his wife. No arrests have been made.
UPI
09-07-2025
- Politics
- UPI
French authorities raid National Rally HQ over alleged finance crimes
Jordan Bardella, president of the French National Rally Party, said its offices had been raided by French authorities. File Photo by Maya Vidon-White/UPI | License Photo July 9 (UPI) -- French law enforcement conducted a raid Wednesday on the headquarters of the National Rally Party as part of an ongoing investigation into possible financial crimes. National Rally President Jordan Bardella said on X Wednesday that "about 20 financial brigade police officers, armed and wearing bulletproof vests, accompanied by two investigating judges," arrived at RN HQ at around 2:50 a.m. EDT and ostensibly seized "all emails, documents, and accounting records of the leading opposition party." He further claimed his group wasn't informed about what led to the seizure. "This operation, spectacular and unprecedented, is clearly part of a new harassment campaign," Bardella said. "It is a serious attack on pluralism and democratic alternation." The Parisian prosecutor's office has explained the investigation is intended to determine if the National Rally in any way financed its campaigns through illegal loans between 2020 and 2024. No one has been charged in connection to the Wednesday raid but does come about three months after former RN leader Marine Le Pen was found guilty of misusing European Parliament monies and sent to prison. "Suspecting our activists," said Bardella in a follow-up X post Wednesday, "who lend to the RN due to the lack of banks willing to do so, of 'illegally practicing the profession of banker' is a farce." He went on to allege that the RN headquarters raid was a political stunt. "Nothing to do with justice, everything to do with politics," he concluded.
The Sun
09-07-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
France police raid far-right party offices over campaign financing
PARIS: The leader of France's National Rally said police seized documents from the far-right party's headquarters Wednesday, a raid prosecutors said was linked to a French probe into alleged illegal campaign financing. The party of Marine Le Pen, the longtime standard bearer of the French far right, has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years. The 56-year-old politician, who has three times run for president, suffered a stunning blow in March when a French court convicted her and other party officials over an EU parliament fake jobs scam. The ruling, which Le Pen has appealed, banned her from standing for office for five years, effectively scuppering her ambition of running in 2027 presidential elections. Le Pen has asked her top lieutenant, 29-year-old party leader and member of European Parliament Jordan Bardella, to prepare to campaign in her place. 'RN headquarters -- including the offices of its leaders -- are being searched by around 20 police officers from the financial brigade,' Bardella said on X on Wednesday morning. Police accompanied by two investigating magistrates had seized 'all emails, documents and accounting' records of the party, he added. They included 'all files related to the last regional, presidential, parliamentary and European (election) campaigns', Bardella said, denouncing what he called 'a new harassment operation'. - Alleged 'illegal loans' - The Paris prosecutor's office said police had raided the party's offices as part of an investigation launched in July last year into alleged illegal campaign financing for the 2022 presidential and parliamentary elections, as well as the European polls last year. The investigation seeks to 'determine whether these campaigns were notably funded through illegal loans from individuals to the party or RN candidates', the prosecutor's office added. It would also look into allegations the party had included inflated or fake invoices in its claims for the state to reimburse its campaign finances, said the office. Police also searched the offices and homes of several company bosses on Wednesday as part of the investigation covering the period of January 2020 to July 2024, it said. In a separate case, the EU's prosecutor said Tuesday it has launched a formal investigation into a defunct far-right group, which included France's RN, over the alleged misuse of European Parliament funds. According to the reports by a consortium of European media, most of the allegedly misused funds benefited companies belonging to a former advisor to Le Pen and his wife. – AFP
