The president of the National Rally group in the Assembly will be heard by the National Assembly’s commission of inquiry on May 24, in particular about the loan of 9.4 million euros granted by a Russian bank in 2014 to the party of far right.
Marine Le Pen, president of the group of RN deputies, will go on May 24 before the National Assembly’s commission of inquiry into the Assembly’s foreign interference, for a hearing which should give pride of place to Russia and to a loan contracted in 2014.
The candidate of the National Rally for the last three presidential elections will be heard on May 24 at 2 p.m. according to a press release from the Assembly.
“We said from the start that Marine Le Pen would be at the disposal of the commission of inquiry, we have not changed our minds,” RN deputy Jean-Philippe Tanguy told AFP on Tuesday. also chairman of the commission of inquiry.
Chairman of the delegate committee
However, he explained that he would delegate the presidency of the commission for the time of this hearing, probably to MoDem deputy Laurent Esquenet-Goxes, one of the vice-presidents of the commission.
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, according to Jean-Philippe Tanguy.
“No new fact brought to light by previous hearings justifies this hearing”, requested by the Macronist majority, however estimated the deputy RN.
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 “compensation or “political pressure”.
A loan of 9.4 million euros concluded in 2014
The former MEP, who is also a consultant, explained that after the refusal of “all the Western banks” to grant a loan to the National Front, “we could only find on the Chinese side, Iran, or the 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. This loan should largely animate the debates on May 24.
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 the other hand, the hearings could stop there for this commission because of the calendar. Its report must be written on May 26 and its conclusions officially presented in early June.
