Marine Le Pen attended for eight long hours on Wednesday, October 30th, in Paris, the slow sinking of her accounting firms. The correctional court, during the fifteenth day of the trial of FN assistants in the European Parliament, focused on the party’s financial machine, raising the essential question: were these individual and random hirings of fictitious assistants, or a system rigorously organized by the party? The answer is clear. Two accounting firms succeeded each other, with the first, from 2004 to 2011, led by Christophe Moreau, who boasted of never being a member of any party. The firm acted as a third-party payer, handling contracts, requesting reimbursement from Brussels, and distributing European funds to the assistants, with payments increasing from 21,000 euros per month per deputy to 30,000 euros.
The task was not insurmountable as there were only seven FN deputies from 2004 to 2009, and three until 2014, with the business representing only 1% to 3% of the Moreau firm’s turnover. An assistant provided him with the list of contracts, which was then approved by Jean-Marie Le Pen; Moreau executed it without paying too much attention to assistant movements between deputies. The goal was to deplete European budget envelopes, the president emphasized. The accountant initially hesitated but ultimately admitted it. He saw nothing wrong with the situation, comparing it to running engines in the military to deplete fuel stocks. The party instructed him to make changes, such as three months of Thierry Légier on Marine Le Pen and additional payments for Légier on Jean-Marie Le Pen. Moreau did not question whether deputies and assistants were aware or working for the party or the European Parliament.
Despite being asked to sign a fake contract for the Le Pen’s bodyguard, with a fabricated pay slip to claim 41,504 euros in three months, Moreau did not question the legitimacy of the request. He continued his mission without suspicion, stating he was not there to conduct police investigations. Even when faced with documents requesting payments on false contracts, he did not question the validity of the requests. The intricate financial dealings of the FN were further dissected during the trial, showcasing a complex web of payments and contracts that ultimately led to the exposure of a system that seemed to prioritize depleting European funds over the legitimacy of assistant hirings and payments.
The trial of FN parliamentary assistants revealed a labyrinthine network of financial transactions, overseen by accounting firms that appeared complicit in facilitating the questionable payments and contracts. Marine Le Pen watched as her once trusted experts faced intense scrutiny, exposing the inner workings of a system that had potentially manipulated European funds for party gain. The clear lack of oversight and due diligence in the handling of assistant contracts and payments raised serious concerns about the accountability and transparency within the party’s financial operations. Marine Le Pen’s passive presence during this unraveling of her accounting firms signaled a significant blow to her credibility as a leader, as she navigated through the fallout of a trial that put a spotlight on the questionable financial practices within the FN.
