The headquarters of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally were raided Wednesday morning, with police seizing documents and computers.
The headquarters of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party in Paris were raided in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with police seizing documents and computers, prompting accusations of politically inspired lawfare.
“Since 8:50 this morning, the headquarters of the National Rally – including the offices of its leaders – have been subject to a search conducted by about twenty financial brigade police officers, armed and wearing bulletproof vests, accompanied by two investigating judges,” National Rally president Jordan Bardella said on Wednesday.
According to Le Figaro, the raid on the populist party’s Paris HQ stems from an investigation started last year into alleged illegal loans to finance Marine Le Pen’s 2022 presidential campaign, the subsequent legislative elections in France, and the European Parliament elections in 2024, which the party won a commanding victory over President Macron’s neo-liberal coalition.
Prosecutors allege that the RN had over 20 million euros in outstanding loans as of the end of 2023, with the earliest dating back to 2007. Unpaid loans could thus be seen as a means of evading campaign finance rules, as they would effectively serve as “disguised donations,” explained Christian Charpy, the head of the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing.
