Marine Le Pen found GUILTY of embezzlement & faces jail in verdict that may dash French far-right leader’s bid for power

MARINELePenis today facing prison and the end of her ambition to become the next President of France after being found guilty of embezzlement.

The 56-year-old far-Right politician was on Monday at the Paris Correctional Court to hear the verdict in a corruption case involving her National Rally (RN) party.

She was found guilty by three judges of “embezzling public funds”, and now faces being banned from standing as President in 2027, despite being viewed as a favourite to take over from Emmanuel Macron.

Prosecutors have alsocalled for a five-year prison sentence – with two served as community service – and a fine equivalent to £250,000.

Sentencing will take place later on Monday.

Le Pen and 24 other defendants are said to have stolen around €6.8million (£5.6m) of European taxpayers’ money by setting up fake jobs in the European Parliament over a period of at least a decade.

Those convicted alongside here included eight other former RN MEPs.

Instead of spending the money on MEP expenses in Brussels and Strasbourg, they sent it all back to the RN party HQ in Paris, it is alleged.

Facing up to three specialist anti-corruption judges during a trial that ended in November,MsLePensaid: “It’s my political death they’re after.

“Theprosecution's intention is to deprive the French people of the ability to vote for those they want.”

This was despite evidence pointing to a“sophisticated billing system” being set up byLePen, an MEP in Brussels from 2004 until 2017.

Prosecutor Louise Neyton saidLePenand her co-defendants had “bluntly put, turned the European Parliament into their cash cow.”

President Macron will be forced to stand down as head of state in 2027, having served the two terms allowed in France.

Ms Le Pen came second in the last two presidential elections, and her vote share has gone up every time.

But prosecutors have called for her to be banned from seeking public office for five years – a punishment that would start immediately, even if she appeals sentence.

The RN is currently the largest part in the National Assembly – the Paris equivalent of the House of Commons – with 123 seats

Around 13million people vote for the party at elections – around a third of the national vote – and many see Ms Le Pen as the appropriate successor to the liberal centrist Mr Macron, who came to power in 2017.

MsLePenhas helped to detoxify the RN, which was founded by her late father, Jean MarieLePen, as the National Rally in 1972.

It was firmly linked with racism, including anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, for decades, along with a fiercely anti-Muslim agenda.

While the RN still places anti-immigration policies at the centre of its agenda, it has toned down its rhetotic.

It is still a party dominated by the Le Pen family name, however, and if this goes, it is likely to see its fortunes reversed.

Ms Le Pen’s immediate heir is Jordan Bardella, a 29-year-old who has been president of the RN since 2022, but is considered too young, inexperienced and unqualified for high office.

Mr Bardella is a former EU parliamentary assistant for the RN, but is not implicated in the current trial.