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French prosecutor studying EU anti-fraud agency report on Le Pen -Breaking

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© Reuters. Marine Le Pen gestures at a French far-right National Rally(Rassemblement National), party candidate for 2022 French Presidential Election, during a campaign meeting held in Avignon (France, April 14, 2022). REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

PARIS (Reuters) – French prosecutors have said Sunday that they will be reviewing a report of the European Union’s anti-fraud agent. The agency claims Marine Le Pen and other far-right candidates for president of France were accused of misappropriating EU funds worth thousands of euro.

Le Pen will challenge Emmanuel Macron for the presidency. However, opinion polls show Macron ahead of Le Pen in Sunday’s second round.

Paris’s prosecutor confirmed it was reviewing a report from the EU antifraud agency OLAF in March.

Mediapart, an investigative website, reported on Saturday that OLAF had found Le Pen to have misappropriated 140,000 euro of public funds with other party members. The report also claimed Le Pen was responsible for 617,000 euros in total theft. They are all accused of taking direct profit, but they also claim EU funds to cover staff expenses and for event costs.

Le Pen’s Office could not be reached immediately to comment.

Jordan Bardella, president of National Rally said that the French would not allow the European Union or the European institutions to interfer in the presidential election and harm Marine Le Pen. He spoke on Europe 1 radio.

According to him, his party had already filed two lawsuits against OLAF. He also stated that it was going to file a third as a response.

Rodolphe Bosselut, Le Pen’s attorney, said that his client had denied all charges. Rodolphe Bosselut, Le Pen’s lawyer said that he had not yet questioned her and neither he or Le Pen had ever seen the OLAF reports.

Le Pen was under investigation in 2017 for the misuse of European Union funds that were used to pay Parliamentary Assistants.

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