The Court of First Instance of the European Union has dismissed the appeal brought by the former MEP Marine Le Pen (ENL, France) against the decision of the Secretary-General of the European Parliament on the recovery of the sum of €41,554 unduly paid for parliamentary assistance in a judgement delivered on Wednesday 28 November (T-161/17).
Elected to the European Parliament between 2009 and 2017, Ms Le Pen concluded a part-time contract as a local parliamentary assistant with her bodyguard, Thierry Légier, for the period from 1 October to 31 December 2011. This employment contract provided for a gross monthly remuneration of €9,078.88.
On the basis of a recommendation from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the Secretary-General of Parliament estimated at the beginning of 2017 that the sum of €41,554 had been unduly paid during the period in question.
In her application to the Court of First Instance, Ms Le Pen alleges the incompetence of the Secretary-General of the Parliament, a lack of reasoning, infringement of the principles of the protection of legitimate expectations and legal certainty, errors of fact, misuse of powers, misuse of procedure, discriminatory treatment and the lack of independence of OLAF. It also makes requests for measures of organisation of procedure and investigation.
In its judgement, the Court of First Instance discards all the arguments advanced or rejects them for lack of evidence or legal basis. In addition, he considers that the measures of organisation of procedure and investigation requested are not justified since the elements contained in the file and the explanations given at the hearing are sufficient to enable the Court to give its opinion.
In total, Ms Le Pen was forced to reimburse nearly €300,000 to the European Parliament for parliamentary assistance (see EUROPE 11714). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)