Plot thickens over Russian bank loan to Marine Le Pen's Front National
Mediapart has obtained a copy of the contract for the 9 million euro loan that a Russian bank gave to France's far-right Front National (FN) in 2014. The document answers some of the questions in this murky affair but many remain. The bank later went bankrupt, its former director is wanted for alleged misappropriation of funds, the FN's loan has been sold on at least twice, and it is still not clear to whom it has to be repaid. Marine Turchi and Agathe Duparc report.
ItIt was a document that France's far-right Front National has always refused to make public. But after a legal battle Mediapart has won the right to see the contract for the Russian loan that the Marine Le Pen's party obtained in 2014. Its 17 pages shed light on some of the murky areas surrounding this unprecedented loan by the Moscow-based First Czech Russian Bank (FCRB). This bank has since gone bankrupt in circumstances which remain unclear and is now at the centre of legal proceedings over the alleged misappropriation of funds.
