France's Marine Le Pen goes on trial accused of misusing European Parliament funds

Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen was on trial in Paris on Monday on charges of abusing European Parliament funds by hiring aides provided at taxpayer expense for party matters.

Le Pen, who hopes to make a fourth run for president in 2027, is among high-ranking party officials prosecutors allege employed assistants and put them to work for the party rather than for National Rally's more than two dozen MEPs representing the interests of their constituents in the 717-seat legislative body.

EP counsel, which accuses the party of running a scheme of creating sham parliamentary assistant posts and then appointing mostly senior party operatives to fill them, is seeking to claw back more than $3.3 million.

Le Pen resigned as president of the then-National Front in 2017 to run for president of the country but is being prosecuted because she was in charge when many of the alleged offenses took place with prosecutors alleging that one of the "parliamentary aides" was, in fact, a bodyguard to Le Pen and her father and party founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen .

The elder Le Pen, 96, is among 24 other defendants in the case.

"The European Parliament's lawyers believe that, in this case, the Parliament has suffered both financial and reputational damage," the Parliament's press service told Politico.

National Rally has already repaid $1.1 million but insists that the payment was not an admission of any wrongdoing.

If convicted, the 56-year-old could be fined $1.1 million, sent to prison for 10 years and possibly banned from running for public office for 5 years which would put paid to her presidential ambitions.

Le Pen denies the charges and as she arrived at the court insisted she and her colleagues had not broken any rules.

Party spokesman Laurent Jacobelli said the defense would show there was "no system to embezzle money from the EU."

"We are going to prove that it is possible to be an assistant to a European parliamentarian and get involved in the life of the National Rally," he said.

The party claims the issue is a misunderstanding arising from a culture gap between Paris and Brussels over the definition of what role is understood to be a party employee -- demonstrated by the fact a party in President Emmanuel Macron 's coalition was fined for the same thing earlier in the year and several party officials given suspended prison time or fined.

National Rally heavily defeated Marcron's Renew grouping 30-13 in European Parliament elections in June that saw the far-right make big strides in France, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, and to a lesser extent in Germany and Romania, prompting Macron to call a snap election.

The New Popular Front leftist coalition won the most seats -- but not an outright majority -- producing a stalemate only resolved by the replacement of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal from Macron's Renaissance Party, with the right-wing Republicans' Michel Barnier on Sept. 5.