Louis Aliot has done it all. First vice president and second-in-command of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN, formerly Front National, FN) party, doctor of law, mayor of Perpignan, former lawyer, former member of the European Parliament, former member of the French Parliament, former regional councilor, departmental councilor, municipal councilor...

"I've held every position," he modestly summed up in court, on Tuesday, October 29. However, this is the first time he has been charged with "misappropriation of public funds." So the court eagerly awaited his arguments, which would no doubt contrast with the awkward defenses used by other MEPs, his co-defendants.

Aliot had not appeared when summoned by the investigators, had only made a brief statement before the investigating judges, and had then invoked his right to remain silent. "You therefore never answered any of the questions," observed presiding judge Bénédicte de Perthuis. He knows the European Parliament well, having served as Marine Le Pen's parliamentary assistant there, from 2011 to 2014. They were a couple at the time, and he received a salary of €5,000 a month for his part-time work for her. The Parliament had questioned the amount, but those are not the funds he is being prosecuted for.

Rather, he was in court for having employed Laurent Salles as a full-time assistant, from July 1, 2014, to February 28, 2015 – a man who has left only extraordinarily scant traces of his work at the European Parliament. In reality, Salles had been working for Yann Le Pen, Marine's sister, who was highly satisfied with his services, at the "national department for major events," the DNGM, at the party's headquarters in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. Salles had been very happy about this, having been hired by the FN in 2013 and, after his period as a parliamentary assistant, rehired by the party in the events sector, a job he greatly valued.

The assistant's relationship with his MEP was woefully tenuous: They only spoke on the phone once in 11 months, from September 2014 to August 2015, and Salles only sent one text message to his official boss during the period, while not a single document supported his work for the Parliament. His only serious contact with Aliot was to invite him to an event held by the FN's local branch in the western suburbs of Paris.

Aliot took it all in stride: "I used to come to headquarters once a week, my office was on the second floor, his too. He managed my mail because people often write to the party headquarters, that's how it is." The assistant had been recommended to him by Nicolas Bay, the party's former secretary general, who had told him: "Laurent Salles is unemployed, he was able to put together an FN list in Suresnes." This western Paris suburb had seemed like new land for the far-right party to conquer. Therefore, "he was resourceful."

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