Le Pen’s 2022 presidential campaign investigated for illegal financing

Far-right Marine Le Pen’s campaign for the 2022 presidential elections is being investigated for alleged illegal financing, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced on Tuesday.

He elaborated that investigations had been launched for six possible offences, including embezzlement of funds by people performing public functions, falsification of documents and acceptance of a loan from an entity by a candidate.

Other possible offences investigated include loans from an entity to a candidate campaigning, fraud against a public figure and the use of false documents.

The investigation was launched on July 2 and has been assigned to the police financial brigade, which works under the supervision of an investigating judge.

The Prosecutor’s Office took this decision after evaluating a report sent by the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing (CNCCFP).

At the moment, neither Le Pen nor her party, the National Rally (RN), have reacted to the announcement of the investigation.

The April 2022 presidential elections gave a second term to Emmanuel Macron, who won again in the second round over Le Pen, whom he had already defeated in the 2017 elections.

However, Macron’s margin of victory on this occasion was considerably smaller (17.1 percentage points compared to 32.2 in 2017).