Russian loan to the RN: Marine Le Pen auditioned on foreign interference

Marine Le Pen, president of the group of RN deputies, will go to the Assembly's commission of inquiry on foreign interference on May 24, for a hearing which should give pride of place to Russia and a loan contracted in 2014

Russian loan to the RN: Marine Le Pen auditioned on foreign interference

Marine Le Pen, president of the group of RN deputies, will go to the Assembly's commission of inquiry on foreign interference on May 24, for a hearing which should give pride of place to Russia and a loan contracted in 2014. , relates RMC. The National Rally candidate for the last three presidential elections will be heard on May 24 at 2 p.m., according to a statement from the Assembly. The floor will be given to all the members of the commission and, if time permits, to two deputies representing the communist and Liot groups, absent from this commission of inquiry.

But the deputies of the commission have little hope on the usefulness of these hearings, with little room for maneuver. The socialist deputy Philippe Brun, member of the commission, even denounces a "masquerade" which only serves to wash away the far-right party. Especially since you have to go fast. The hearings could thus end there for this commission because of the calendar. Its report is due May 26 and its findings officially presented in early June. The commission of inquiry into foreign interference has been launched by the RN in an attempt to cut short accusations that the far-right party is an agent of Russian influence in France. Several RN managers have already been interviewed.

On May 4, Jean-Luc Schaffhauser, former FN MEP (now RN), explained that he had been charged by Marine Le Pen with the negotiations for the party to conclude in 2014 a loan with Russian banks, but without "counterpart or "political pressure". The former MEP, who is also a consultant, explained that after "all Western banks" refused to grant a loan to the National Front, "we could only find on the Chinese side, Iran or Russia : Marine Le Pen considered Russia to be the best”. A loan of 9.4 million euros was finally concluded in 2014 with a Czech-Russian bank, whose debt was taken over by various companies following cascading bankruptcies, which are still being reimbursed.