France’s far-right leader Le Pen guilty of embezzlement in ruling that could end her career
-
Summary
A French court found far-right leader Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzling over €3 million in EU funds, potentially ending her 2027 presidential bid.
The judge ruled Le Pen and 24 others misused European Parliament funds between 2004 and 2016 to pay National Rally party staff, calling it a deliberate scheme, not an error.
Prosecutors had sought five years’ prison and a public office ban. Even with an appeal, a provisional execution could bar her candidacy.
Could someone tell me how she was able to walk out of the court having been sentenced to prison?
-
Maybe not an average conservative in France, but pretty spot-on for a conservative in the U.S.
-
The worst thing in this statement is "could" - "could end her career".
A system that automatically doesn't provide real consequences and makes an example of the criminal is a corrupt system in itself. There shouldn't even be a 'could' in a so-called 'fair and free system'.
And this isn't just France, by far. Cheers from the banana Republic of Portugal, quite the paradise for corrupt politicians.
Mate, I'm Portuguese, living in Portugal right now and let me tell you that whilst I agree with you that Portugal is a pretty corrupt place, it's far better now that it used to be back before 2009 when the first government minister ever was convicted and imprisioned for corruption.
(20 years ago nobody would have even found out that our last Prime Minister's family paid over €700k for real estate using money he had not declared to the transparency comission as having earned - not least because there was no such things as transparency legislation - much less the government falling because of it)
Outside the countries were Corruption is such a widespread and everyday thing that it can't be denied (so, the kind of place were it's normal to pay the police not to give you a fine for a traffic infraction or are expected to pay somebody at the city hall if you want to ever be issued a permit for something), the most corrupt places are places like the US and UK (the latter of which were I lived for over a decade) where the system is designed so that they won't even investigate, much less prosecute and convict anybody who is "important" for Corruption and if any such people are publicly accused of Corruption the Justice System comes down hard on the accusers for Libel or even Harassment.
There is this interesting paradox in the perception of corruption (and hence in things like the Corruption Perception Index) that when the Justice System starts going after high level politicians for corruption, people think Corruption is going up (because it gets so much coverage in the news), when in fact Corruption is going down because some crooks are getting arrested and the rest get scared (not least because when high level types get jailed, the highest level politicians who can get millions with corrupt practices that affect an entire country, stop thinking that they have de facto immunity)
Meanwhile, in the countries with purposefully designed to be innefective "anti"-corruption systems (the UK being a perfect example, with the entire responsability for fighting corruption AND fraud, from investigation to prosecution in the entire country, being the responsability of a single entity in the Justice System - the Serious Fraud Office - who have less budget than a small city hall) alongside nasty "honor/image defending" legislation to fend off any accusations of corruption - so those convicted for Corruption can be publicly accused of being corrupt and the system is setup so that nobody but the small fry ever gets convicted for Corruption - are the one's with the most "strange" pieces of legislation and ministerial orders that clearly help certain sectors and even specific companies and really high rates of politicians ending up multi-millionaires via things like work-one-day-a-month very highly paid non-executive board memberships in private companies and/or getting hundreds or thousands per-speech in the speech circuit, and yet people generally think the country is very clean because you literally never see any high level politician end up in the news for Corruption.
-
Wait, y'all can just convict a right-wing political figure and like, get rid of them? Forever?
We gotta check our math, I think we did something wrong over here.
I... I didn't know you could do that.
-
She's not your average conservative. She's an actual fascist -- linked with Orbán, Trump, received millions from Putin, and her party was formed by and still includes numerous nazis, regardless of her rebranding efforts. This goes both for the founding members and the current recruits.
And Meloni, please gals and guys, never forget Meloni. I know she looks like an ugly Chihuahua, but she bites much more than she barks.
-
Could someone tell me how she was able to walk out of the court having been sentenced to prison?
The prison sentence kicks in after appeals have been made. 2 years, plus 2 suspended.
It's also not unknown/uncommon for people to be let free for a few days. It lets them put their affairs in order, before serving their time. It tends to be applied to those with a very low flight risk however, with significant affairs, so mainly the rich.
-
The prison sentence kicks in after appeals have been made. 2 years, plus 2 suspended.
It's also not unknown/uncommon for people to be let free for a few days. It lets them put their affairs in order, before serving their time. It tends to be applied to those with a very low flight risk however, with significant affairs, so mainly the rich.
Thank you.
-
Wait, y'all can just convict a right-wing political figure and like, get rid of them? Forever?
We gotta check our math, I think we did something wrong over here.
I heard that Trump jumped up and down and threw his juice box when JD explained he couldn't pardon her.
-
Thank you.
She's not going to prison. Just electronic bracelet. And that's assuming appeals don't work.
-
"Embezzlement," how quaint!
-
She's not going to prison. Just electronic bracelet. And that's assuming appeals don't work.
Is that house arrest?
-
"Embezzlement," how quaint!
-
Wait, y'all can just convict a right-wing political figure and like, get rid of them? Forever?
We gotta check our math, I think we did something wrong over here.
-
No, this is Monday, Emoluments Day.
-
Summary
A French court found far-right leader Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzling over €3 million in EU funds, potentially ending her 2027 presidential bid.
The judge ruled Le Pen and 24 others misused European Parliament funds between 2004 and 2016 to pay National Rally party staff, calling it a deliberate scheme, not an error.
Prosecutors had sought five years’ prison and a public office ban. Even with an appeal, a provisional execution could bar her candidacy.
"could" end it.
Are we cooked as a species? Embezzlement is a pretty big crime. She should be going to jail and it should most definitely end her political aspirations
-
Summary
A French court found far-right leader Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzling over €3 million in EU funds, potentially ending her 2027 presidential bid.
The judge ruled Le Pen and 24 others misused European Parliament funds between 2004 and 2016 to pay National Rally party staff, calling it a deliberate scheme, not an error.
Prosecutors had sought five years’ prison and a public office ban. Even with an appeal, a provisional execution could bar her candidacy.
She needs the trump guide on how to not give a fuck and run anyway. /s
-
"could" end it.
Are we cooked as a species? Embezzlement is a pretty big crime. She should be going to jail and it should most definitely end her political aspirations
4 years. Let's see how it plays out.
-
Summary
A French court found far-right leader Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzling over €3 million in EU funds, potentially ending her 2027 presidential bid.
The judge ruled Le Pen and 24 others misused European Parliament funds between 2004 and 2016 to pay National Rally party staff, calling it a deliberate scheme, not an error.
Prosecutors had sought five years’ prison and a public office ban. Even with an appeal, a provisional execution could bar her candidacy.
A French court found far-right leader Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzling over €3 million in EU funds, potentially ending her 2027 presidential bid.
"pfffft...amateur." (Donald Trump, probably)
-
And Meloni, please gals and guys, never forget Meloni. I know she looks like an ugly Chihuahua, but she bites much more than she barks.
-
Summary
A French court found far-right leader Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzling over €3 million in EU funds, potentially ending her 2027 presidential bid.
The judge ruled Le Pen and 24 others misused European Parliament funds between 2004 and 2016 to pay National Rally party staff, calling it a deliberate scheme, not an error.
Prosecutors had sought five years’ prison and a public office ban. Even with an appeal, a provisional execution could bar her candidacy.
