Police have raided the headquarters of France’s far-right National Rally (RN) and seized documents as part of an investigation into alleged illegal campaign financing that was denounced by the party’s leader, Jordan Bardella, as “a harassment campaign”, reports The Guardian.
The raid came a day after EU financial prosecutors in Brussels said they had launched a separate investigation into the alleged misuse of 4.3 million euros by the former far-right Identity & Democracy (ID) group in the European parliament, which included the RN.
It also represented a fresh setback for the party after its figurehead, Marine Le Pen, was convicted in March of embezzling EU funds and barred from running for office for five years, effectively scuppering her hopes of running in 2027 presidential elections.
Bardella, 29, whom Le Pen has asked to prepare to campaign in her place, said on social media on Wednesday: “RN headquarters – including the offices of its leaders – are being searched by about 20 police officers from the financial brigade.”
Police and investigating magistrates had seized “emails, documents and accounting” relating to “the last regional, presidential, parliamentary and European elections”, he said, calling the operation “a serious attack on pluralism and democratic choice”.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said the raid was part of an investigation launched in July last year that sought to establish whether campaigns in 2022 and 2024 were funded through “illegal loans from individuals to the party or to RN candidates”.
Read more of this report from The Guardian.