France’s far-right National Rally Party has denounced authorities in a “new harassment campaign” after police attacked headquarters in an investigation into campaign finances.
Party leader Jordan Bardera said the “magnificent and unprecedented operation” was “a serious attack on pluralism and democratic change.”
Prosecutors said they are investigating potential “fraud” behaviors that include alleged violations, including loans and donations, during the 2022 and 2024 election campaigns.
Wallland de Sanjust, former party treasurer, said the National Rally (RN) had done nothing wrong.
“This process seems outrageous and completely unacceptable. We are persecuted on a daily basis,” he told reporters outside the party’s Paris headquarters.
“All campaign accounts have been approved and refunded.”
Despite a series of legal setbacks, RN has moved ahead in a poll of French opinion, with 29-year-old president Bardera surpassing his recent vote as the country’s most popular political figure.
Earlier this year, RN leader Marine Le Pen was found guilty by a French court that helped embezzle European Union funds. She was forbidden from running for office for five years.
She accused her of “witch hunting,” but last month she admitted that she might have to hand over the baton to a young lieutenant ahead of her 2027 presidential vote.
Although Bardera was not present during the police raid as he was attending a European Parliament session held in Strasbourg, he said 20 Financial Brigade Police had seized internal party documents and used the search as an excuse to assault his office.
There were no immediate comments from Le Pen.
Police also attacked several companies and their boss’ headquarters.
The attack was linked to an investigation launched just a year ago by prosecutors in Paris, and allegations of embezzlement, forgery and fraud centered around Le Pen’s party.
Prosecutors said Wednesday that the investigation should establish whether the party’s 2022 presidential and parliamentary campaign and the 2024 European campaign were “funded by national assembly or illegal payments by individuals who benefited candidates.”
They also said they would investigate whether inflated or fictitious invoices have been filed as campaign costs repaid by the state.
RN said the allegations for illegal campaign funding are based on the fact that French banks are not ready to support the funds. Previously, they had secured loans from banks in Russia and Hungary.
In another round of the national rally, the European Union’s prosecutor’s office this week officially launched an investigation into former political groups in the European Parliament that RN is part of it.
Identity and democracy were disbanded last year and are suspected of misusing Congressional funds. The RN is currently part of a European group group that includes distant party members from Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain and Portugal.
Bardera said Tuesday that the investigation was a “new harassment operation by the European Parliament.”
