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Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
French right-wing National Rally party HQ raided by police in 'harassment operation'
The headquarters of the French right-wing National Rally party were raided Wednesday morning in Paris in what its leader is calling a "spectacular and unprecedented" harassment operation. "Since 8:50 this morning, the headquarters of the National Rally -- including the offices of its leaders -- have been the subject of a search carried out by around twenty police officers from the Financial Brigade, armed and wearing bulletproof vests, accompanied by two investigating judges," National Rally President Jordan Bardella said in a statement. "This spectacular and unprecedented operation is clearly part of a new harassment operation. It is a serious attack on pluralism and democratic change," he added. "Never has an opposition party suffered such relentless attacks under the Fifth Republic." 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, according to the Associated Press. French Right-wing Leader Marine Le Pen Found Guilty Of Embezzling Public Funds, Barred From Running For Office "All emails, documents and accounting records of the leading opposition party have been seized, although we do not yet know the precise grievances underlying them," Bardella also said. "All we know is that all the files concerning the latest regional, presidential, legislative and European campaigns -- that is, all the party's electoral activity -- are now in the hands of the courts." Read On The Fox News App 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. Reporter's Notebook: Aftershock From A Political 'Earthquake' As Le Pen Barred From Presidential Run In 2027 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. Authorities raided the National Party's headquarters after Le Pen — runner-up to incumbent President Emmanuel Macron in 2022 — was convicted of embezzlement in April. 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. The prosecutor's office said no one has been charged in the latest case, with former party treasurer Wallerand de Saint-Just telling reporters outside the headquarters "We did nothing wrong.″ The Associated Press contributed to this report. Original article source: French right-wing National Rally party HQ raided by police in 'harassment operation'
Local France
6 days ago
- 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.
Fox News
7 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
French right-wing National Rally party HQ raided by police in 'harassment operation'
The headquarters of the French right-wing National Rally party were raided Wednesday morning in Paris in what its leader is calling a "spectacular and unprecedented" harassment operation. "Since 8:50 this morning, the headquarters of the National Rally -- including the offices of its leaders -- have been the subject of a search carried out by around twenty police officers from the Financial Brigade, armed and wearing bulletproof vests, accompanied by two investigating judges," National Rally President Jordan Bardella said in a statement. "This spectacular and unprecedented operation is clearly part of a new harassment operation. It is a serious attack on pluralism and democratic change," he added. "Never has an opposition party suffered such relentless attacks under the Fifth Republic." 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, according to the Associated Press. "All emails, documents and accounting records of the leading opposition party have been seized, although we do not yet know the precise grievances underlying them," Bardella also said. "All we know is that all the files concerning the latest regional, presidential, legislative and European campaigns -- that is, all the party's electoral activity -- are now in the hands of the courts." 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. Authorities raided the National Party's headquarters after Le Pen — runner-up to incumbent President Emmanuel Macron in 2022 — was convicted of embezzlement in April. 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. The prosecutor's office said no one has been charged in the latest case, with former party treasurer Wallerand de Saint-Just telling reporters outside the headquarters "We did nothing wrong.″
