Twenty financial brigade police officers raided the headquarters of National Rally (RN) in Paris on Wednesday, seizing thousands of documents, emails, and accounting records of the party led by Marine Le Pen. The police operation, with two investigating judges present, comes a day after the European Parliament announced an investigation against RN and a dozen far-right parties for the misuse of EU funds.
As reported by Le Monde, the French authorities' intervention is part of another investigation opened in July 2024, focusing on suspicions of illicit financing of RN's campaigns for the 2022 presidential and legislative elections, as well as last year's European elections, including loans granted by wealthy activists and supporters of the far-right party.
The police operation comes just over three months after the sentencing of Marine Le Pen and 23 other members of her party for irregular use of funds for their European Parliament group. Le Pen was sentenced to four years in prison and a five-year ban from public office, potentially thwarting her ambitions for the 2027 presidential elections (the sentence was appealed).
The ongoing investigation could directly implicate her number two Jordan Bardella, a potential presidential candidate. A spokesperson for the Paris Prosecutor's Office stated, "To date, no legal entity has been charged in this procedure."
"The documents requested by the police are related to the so-called regular loans," stated RN treasurer and deputy Kévin Pfeffer to Le Monde. "They are also interested in the 2021 regional elections, the 2022 presidential elections, the 2022 legislative elections, and the 2024 European elections."
Meanwhile, the European Parliament confirmed on Tuesday the investigation opened by the Directorate-General for Finance into the activities of the Identity and Democracy (ID) group, which brought together a dozen far-right parties (including RN). They are accused of illegally distributing over 4.7 million euros in donations to various associations in violation of the rules governing the use of funds initially intended for parliamentary group operations.
Additionally, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rejected Marine Le Pen's appeal on Wednesday seeking to suspend her five-year ban from public office (for embezzlement) imposed by a Paris court last March. The ECHR, based in Strasbourg, found that there was no "demonstrated existence of an imminent risk of irreparable harm to a right protected by the European Convention on Human Rights or its protocols." The National Rally leader had announced her intention to exhaust all possible appeals to suspend her sentence.
"All files related to the latest regional, presidential, legislative, and European campaigns are now in the hands of the courts, without knowing the specific allegations," stated Jordan Bardella from Strasbourg, where he was attending a European Parliament session. The politician explained that the police operation took place at 8:50 a.m. at RN's national headquarters, in the presence of his chief of staff, François Paradol, and a party lawyer, Wallerand de Saint-Just.
"No opposition party has ever faced such harassment during the Fifth Republic," declared Bardella, alleging that the police operation is part of a campaign to obstruct RN's aspirations, the frontrunner in polls for the 2027 presidential elections.
"I believe this raid is actually a pretext to confiscate all internal documents and search my office," added RN president and European Patriots parliamentary group leader, hinting that he could be the next target following the harassment of Le Pen.
"The financing of our campaigns was perfectly legal," emphasized Bardella. "No French bank wanted to lend money to National Rally to finance its campaigns, so it remains implausible to accuse us of self-financing and having perfectly legal loans, governed by contracts and fully repaid. The National Campaign Accounts Commission already has all the information."
RN deputy Sébastien Chenu went further in his accusations, stating that the police operation against the party was "an attack by the system against the French people". "Unable to prevent us from coming to power, the system sinks into sordid judicial harassment maneuvers as a spectacle," Chenu wrote on his X account.