Overview
- Former FN/RN treasurer Wallerand de Saint‑Just told the Paris court of appeal he did not orchestrate any system diverting European Parliament funds to cover party payroll.
- Judges pressed him on a 2014 email from MEP Jean‑Luc Schaffhauser warning that what Marine Le Pen requested “amounted to signing for fictitious jobs,” to which de Saint‑Just replied, “I think Marine knows all that,” while insisting in court he did not believe she would commit an offense.
- The court revisited the case of Charles Hourcade, a party graphic designer placed for six months on a parliamentary assistant contract in 2014–2015; he received a six‑month suspended sentence at first instance and did not appeal.
- In the original ruling, de Saint‑Just was found to have encouraged and monitored “transfers of costs” between the FN and the European Parliament and was sentenced to three years in prison, with part suspended, plus a €50,000 fine and a three‑year ban from holding office.
- About half of the 25 people convicted last year filed appeals, and after finishing defendant questioning the court will assess personalities before hearing the parquet général’s requisitions, in a case with potential implications for Marine Le Pen’s 2027 bid.