The far-right Rassemblement National – the former Front National – was in serious financial difficulty after the Parliamentary and presidential elections in 2017 and was bailed out by a loan of 8 million euros. That loan, Mediapart can reveal, came from French businessman Laurent Foucher who has a range of commercial interests in Africa and who is close to Nicolas Sarkozy's former right-hand man Claude Guéant. The loan was transferred from a bank in the United Arab Emirates but questions still remain over the precise origin of the money. Karl Laske and Marine Turchi report.
An 8-million-euro loan which saved the far-right Front National – now called Rassemblement National – from financial difficulties after the Parliamentary and presidential elections of 2017 came from a French businessman with commercial interests in Africa, Mediapart can reveal.
