Marine Le Pen returned to the witness stand on Wednesday for a second full day of testimony in a Paris court, as part of a high-stakes appeal trial that could decide whether she is eligible to run in France’s presidential election next year.
Spending more than ten hours answering questions, the former leader of the National Front once again rejected accusations that she oversaw a coordinated scheme to misuse European Parliament funds. As she did on the first day of hearings, Le Pen said she “formally” disputes the existence of any organised system designed to divert EU money for party use between 2004 and 2016.
Prosecutors allege that Le Pen and ten co-defendants employed parliamentary assistants who were paid with European Union funds while carrying out work that primarily benefited the National Front, now known as the National Rally. Investigators claim the party set up a fraudulent system as early as 2004 to finance staff who were effectively working for the party rather than the European Parliament.
Judges also examined the case of Thierry Légier, a long-time bodyguard for the National Front who was paid as a parliamentary assistant. Légier, who was convicted in the initial trial, did not appeal his sentence. Le Pen criticised the European Parliament’s role in the case, arguing that it was not acting in good faith by revisiting long-standing contracts during the trial.
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