News / France

France far-right leader interrogated in corruption probe

Tuesday, 05 January 2016 7:02 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 05 January 2016 7:03 PM ]

Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Front (FN) party ©AFP

Judges have questioned the leader of France’s far-right National Front (FN) as part of an investigation into the party’s allegedly inflating campaign expenses.

Unidentified sources close to the inquiry said Marine Le Pen was interrogated for several hours after twice previously having refused to appear before the judges investigating the case.

Le Pen and a number of the FN high-ranking members have been charged with misuse of assets and conspiracy to commit fraud over the financing of the 2012 parliamentary and presidential elections in France.

The anti-immigration party, however, has denied the charge of the embezzlement of millions of euros in its campaign financing.

Le Pen was questioned as an "assisted witness," meaning that she herself is not formally under investigation but could still be charged.

The FN leader, who is aiming to run in the 2017 presidential election, is also under investigation for tweeting graphic images of crimes committed by the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group, which is wreaking havoc mainly in Iraq and Syria.

Recently, the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life, a French financial body, suggested that the FN leader and his father, who founded the far-right party, undervalued their assets in their tax declarations.

The FN won a record number of votes in France’s regional elections in December last year, but failed to win any regions.

The FN has capitalized on security concerns in the wake of the November 13 attacks claimed by Daesh in the French capital city of Paris, where assailants struck at least six different venues, leaving 130 people dead and over 350 others wounded.

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