Prosecutors in France are analyzing a report by the European Union's fraud company accusing far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and different members of her get together of misusing public funds whereas serving within the European Parliament.

The investigation was revealed by French examine information web site Mediapart on Saturday and comes lower than per week earlier than Le Pen, chief of the Nationwide Rally get together, faces incumbent Emmanuel Macron in a runoff election on Sunday.

OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud workplace, submitted the 116-page report back to the Paris prosecutor's workplace final month, in response to Mediapart. The prosecutor's workplace stated it's "in the midst of analyzing it" on Monday, The Related Press reported.

Based on Mediapart, the report discovered Le Pen had misappropriated €137,000 ($148,000) of public cash. In all, it claimed she and different get together members together with her father and get together founder Jean-Marie Le Pen misused €617,000 ($667,000) whereas she served within the European Parliament from 2004 to 2017.

None of them are accused of profiting straight, however of claiming EU funds for workers and occasion bills.

Marine Le Pen
Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen (C) meets with members of the general public throughout a marketing campaign go to to Saint-Pierre-en-Auge, northwestern France, on April 18, 2022.Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP through Getty Pictures

The fraud workplace is reportedly searching for to recuperate the funds and potential fraud and embezzlement prices.

OLAF accused get together members of "grave violations" and stated the "inappropriate habits" of members of Nationwide Rally, previously referred to as the Nationwide Entrance, "imperiled the status of the Union's establishments," Mediapart reported.

On Monday, Le Pen described the accusations as "soiled methods" and questioned the timing of the report.

"The soiled methods of the European Union a number of days earlier than the second spherical," she advised reporters. "I'm very used to this and the French are completely not fooled."

Le Pen's lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut additionally denied the accusations and instructed the timing was suspicious. He advised Newsweek that neither he nor Le Pen had seen the OLAF report.

The accusations come on high of earlier prices that Le Pen allegedly misused EU funds to pay parliamentary assistants.

Le Pen's Nationwide Rally is searching for to decrease the EU's powers, whereas Macron is a pro-EU centrist.

Macron is main Le Pen in opinion polls forward of Sunday's second spherical runoff vote and can also be favored by bookmakers, though the race has narrowed in current weeks.

The president additionally got here out on high within the first spherical of voting on April 10, taking 27.8 p.c of the vote adopted by Le Pen with 23.1 p.c. The pair will participate in a stay tv debate on Wednesday night.