Jean-Marie Le Pen ‘hid cash and gold in Bahamas’
Mr Le Pen allegedly hid gold bars and cash worth £1.57 million in an account with a Swiss bank in the Bahamas, according to the latest leak from corruption investigations into the Front National
Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the French far-Right Front National, hid €2.2 million (£1.57m) in offshore bank accounts, the Mediapart website has claimed.
Cash and gold bars were allegedly deposited in accounts held by a trust fund based in the Virgin Islands, headed by Mr Le Pen’s former butler, Gérald Gérin, and managed from Switzerland by a lawyer, Marc Bonnant.
It is the latest accusation to emerge from corruption investigations aimed at uncovering what prosecutors believe is a tangled web of illegal financing by the Front National, both in Paris and at the European Parliament.
The money was allegedly held in an account with HSBC until last May, when it was transferred to an account with the Swiss bank CBH in the Bahamas, according to Mediapart, a respected investigative website. Its exposure of a Socialist budget minister’s secret Swiss account two years ago forced him to resign.
Mr Gérin, 41, who is one of Mr Le Pen’s closest aides, became his butler at the age of 20. He was rapidly promoted to become a party official, then a regional councillor.
He was a candidate in the 2012 parliamentary election and manages two financing organisations under the joint responsibility of Mr Le Pen and his daughter Marine Le Pen, the party leader.
The Front National is also embroiled in a corruption investigation over allegations it fraudulently paid 20 assistants to its members of the European Parliament up to €7.5 million.
It has been accused of taking a multi-million-euro loan from a Kremlin-linked Russian bank in return for backing Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea but the party denies the Crimea connection.
Ms Le Pen, 46, is engaged in a bitter feud with her 86-year-old father over his claim that the Nazi death chambers were a “mere detail of history”.
Mr Le Pen, who suffered a “little heart problem” earlier this month, is to face a party disciplinary committee next week. His daughter is concerned that his extreme comments are undermining her efforts to broaden party support.
Mr Le Pen was not immediately available to comment, a party official said.
