The headquarters of the French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party were searched by police on Wednesday, July 9, as part of a judicial investigation into suspected illegal campaign financing in recent elections.

The judicial investigation focuses particularly on loans made by wealthy members to the party and its candidates in recent years. The procedure was opened on July 3, 2024, to examine suspicions of illegal funding of the RN's campaigns for the 2022 presidential and legislative elections and the 2024 European elections. The investigation, which is also looking into allegedly inflated invoices intended to increase the amount reimbursed by the French state, was entrusted to the Paris judicial police's new financial and anti-corruption brigade (BFAC).

The searches were conducted in the presence of the party's lawyer Wallerand de Saint-Just and RN chair Jordan Bardella's chief of staff, François Paradol. Bardella, the right-hand man of party figurehead Marine Le Pen, was attending a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

In addition to the RN headquarters, "the headquarters of companies [service providers suspected of overbilling during RN campaigns], as well as the homes of individuals who manage these companies" were also searched, according to the Paris prosecutor's office. "To date, no individual or legal entity has been charged in this case," the prosecutor's office added. "The judicial investigation is ongoing." RN lenders have been questioned in recent months throughout France, Le Monde has learned.

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