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ABACA/PA Images

Le Pen ignores summons over allegations she misused European Parliament funds

Le Pen “was summoned this morning and did not turn up,” a judicial source said.

FRANCE’S MARINE LE Pen ignored a summons by a magistrate investigating allegations that she and members of her National Front party misused money from the European parliament, legal sources told AFP.

Le Pen “was summoned this morning and did not turn up,” a judicial source said.

Two FN officials including Le Pen’s personal assistant have been charged with breach of trust in the probe into allegations that the National Front defrauded the European Parliament of about €340,000.

Le Pen, a European parliamentarian despite her opposition to the EU, had said she would not cooperate with the investigation ahead of presidential elections in which she is seen as a frontrunner.

“I asked for an investigating magistrate to be named for this affair more than a year ago. It was refused,” she told France Bleu radio.

“Then by chance, this move is made a few days before the presidential election. No one is fooled,” she said, adding that the justice system was being used to discredit her.

Le Pen faces a separate investigation into the funding of National Front campaigning in 2014 and 2015, and another over the distribution of violent images of atrocities by the Islamic State group.

Right-wing candidate Francois Fillon is also set to be charged next week for misuse of public funds over the employment of his wife as a parliamentary assistant for 15 years.

She is suspected of not having worked for her salary. Fillon insists that she did.

Polls suggest independent centrist Emmanuel Macron, 39, would win the two-stage election on 23 April and 7 May if it were held today, but analysts warn against making firm forecasts.

© AFP 2017

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    Mute Mr Snuffleupagus
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:43 PM

    She’s gonna win. Brexit, Frexit, and Trump. And this will only be the beginning. The silent majority have woken up. And they ain’t in the humour to compromise. Holland,France, UK, Austria, and even Germany herself all have massive eurosceptic majorities among their own populations.

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    Mute Louis Jacob
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:58 PM

    @Mr Snuffleupagus: ‘Majority’? Less than 50% of the 55.3% of eligible voters voted Trump. That’s somewhere around 25% of adults in the US.

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    Mute Alan Brogan
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:17 PM

    And Austria just elected a pro European government.

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    Mute Louis Jacob
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:40 PM

    @Alan Brogan: Welcome to the alternative facts zone.

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    Mute Ron North
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:49 PM

    @Alan Brogan: That’s because we let them into the Eurovision last time.

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    Mute Chris
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:34 PM

    The elites are at it again

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    Mute Louis Jacob
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:36 PM

    @Chris: Give it a rest. My father was from Brittany… The la Pens are absolute animals.

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    Mute tea biccies
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:43 PM

    What about the le pens? What are they like?

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    Mute tea biccies
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:46 PM

    My mam is from Dublin. Bono is a knob

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    Mute Louis Jacob
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:56 PM

    @tea biccies: True.

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    Mute Gavin Redmond
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:49 PM

    Seems to be a smear campaign, as she has stated she would pull France out. What politician hasn’t don’t what she is accused of.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Mar 10th 2017, 8:32 PM

    So you’re saying it’s OK because others do it? It was found on the tax returns. Returns that are checked thoroughly.

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    Mute Jake Gundersonn
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:57 PM

    Seems people who even want immigration sensibly controlled are labelled animals and supremacists by the left . People are sick of it.

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    Mute Ron North
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:54 PM

    @Jake Gundersonn: …and some people who spend unhealthy amounts of time commenting on the internet about immigration are actually animals and supremacists.

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    Mute Keiko
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    Mar 10th 2017, 9:25 PM

    To Hell with leftist commies, bunch of crustie wasters who need to get a life.

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    Mute Anastasia
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:44 PM

    Gravy train that’s Europe

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    Mute Wodanaz von Mises
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:36 PM

    Career politicians gonna career politician. Regardless of their place on the spectrum. Easy to spend and abuse when the dosh isn’t yours.

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    Mute Mick Tobin
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    Mar 10th 2017, 6:48 PM

    Could hardly come at a better time for her, shortly before the presidential elections. Misusing EU funds will be read as screwing the EU up the arse by her base. Almost wish she’d be acquitted so that this free campaign airtime is gone. But she’d probably find a way to use that to her advantage as well.

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    Mute Louis Jacob
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:04 PM

    @Mick Tobin: That’s a sad truth. But the way the French system works, she hasn’t a prayer in the presidential elections. Everyone who supported the other two will unite behind whoever goes up against her. She knows it too. The sad part is in in the local elections in France where her aggrieved supporters will come out in force. Local and regional government in France have a lot more power than elsewhere. The Front National and La Pen have been destroying communities in France for a long time.

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    Mute Mick Tobin
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    Mar 10th 2017, 7:36 PM

    @Louis Jacob: You’re overly optimistic. She can win, especially now that Juppé won’t be running. His chances would have been markedly better, he’d even have had a shot of keeping her out of the second round.

    If she does, it’s admittedly a long shot that she’d manage to pull off a Frexit. But since we’re pretty much living in an anything goes era, that can’t be ruled out, and if it’d happen, I predict a good chance that Ireland’d be following the UK out of the EU.

    But let’s not get depressively bogged down in probabilities on a Friday night and watch Ireland beat the Welsh. Starting now. :)

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    Mute Mick Tobin
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    Mar 10th 2017, 10:04 PM

    Well, watching the game didn’t really help much folks. :’)

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    Mute Gerard McAuliffe
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    Mar 10th 2017, 10:24 PM

    Worrying times. The world has globalised, markets have changed rapidly and millions of people haven’t kept pace. That’s a tough situation to be in but voting in populist nationalists isn’t going to help. Jobs aren’t coming back to West Virginia and nor should they. If they can do it cheaper and more productively in China then great. Start competing and getting with the program rather than voting populist and yearning for the past.

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