Le Pen dismisses French police raid as ‘media operation’
The far-right party calls the search ‘a media operation’ aimed at disrupting Le Pen’s presidential campaign as she rises in the polls
Paris — French investigators on Monday searched the headquarters of the National Front (FN) as part of a probe into whether far-right party leader Marine Le Pen used European Parliament money to pay for jobs related to domestic politics. In a statement, the party characterised the search as "a media operation whose only goal is to disrupt the smooth operation of" Le Pen’s presidential campaign "at a moment when she’s made major advances in the polls". The European Parliament has ordered Le Pen to repay the amount, estimating the improper payments at €336,146. She has refused to give the money back, saying the jobs were not fictitious, and has appealed against the decision. French prosecutors who got a report from the EU’s anti-fraud office, Olaf, have opened a legal probe of their own. A year ago, the FN’s offices in Nanterre, a few kilometres west of Paris, were raided as part of the same probe opened by Paris prosecutors in March 2015. Meanwhile, Monday’s daily OpinionWay poll sho...
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