French far-right leader Marine Le Pen told an appeals trial on Wednesday that her party acted in "good faith", denying an effort to embezzle European Parliament funds as she fights to keep her 2027 presidential bid alive.
A French court last year barred Le Pen, a three-time presidential candidate from the far-right National Rally (RN), from running for office for five years over a fake jobs scam at the European institution.
It found her, along with 24 former European Parliament lawmakers, assistants and accountants as well as the party itself, guilty of operating a "system" from 2004 to 2016 using European Parliament funds to employ party staff in France.
Le Pen and others were found guilty of misappropriating more than €4 million of EU funds.
Le Pen admits "negligence" in EU fund embezzlement appeal trial
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© France 24
01:51
Le Pen – who on Tuesday rejected the idea of an organised scheme – said on her second day of questioning that even if her party broke the law, it was unintentional.
"We were acting in complete good faith," she said in the dock on Wednesday.
"We can undoubtedly be criticised," the 57-year-old said, shifting instead the blame to the legislature's alleged lack of information and oversight.
"The European Parliament's administration was much more lenient than it is today," she said.
Le Pen also argued that the passage of time made it "extremely difficult" for her to prove her innocence.
"I don't know how to prove to you what I can't prove to you, what I have to prove to you," she told the court.
Asked about the hiring of her longtime personal assistant Catherine Griset under a Brussels contract despite working in Paris, Le Pen replied: "It's not because she's in Paris that she isn't doing her job as a parliamentary assistant."
She however went on to admit "the mistake" of having "hired people who worked at party headquarters".
Read moreWhat to know about French far-right leader Marine Le Pen's graft appeal
On Tuesday, Le Pen was also asked about Julien Odoul, who was listed as her "special adviser" on the party's website in 2015 despite being contracted as a MEP's assistant.
She claimed he just contributed notes as her adviser, and did so little work for her she assumed he had "another job". She said she did not know he was supposed to be working for an MEP.
Eleven others and the party are also appealing in a trial to last until mid-February, with a decision expected this summer.
Rules were 'clear'
Le Pen was also handed a four-year prison sentence, with two years suspended, and fined €100,000 in the initial trial.
She now again risks the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a one-million-euro fine if the appeal fails.
Le Pen is hoping to be acquitted – or at least for a shorter election ban and no time under house arrest.
On Tuesday, Le Pen pushed back against the argument that there was an organised operation to funnel EU funds to the far-right party.
"The term 'system' bothers me because it gives the impression of manipulation," she said.
EU Parliament official Didier Klethi last week said that the legislature's rules were "clear".
EU lawmakers could employ assistants, who were allowed to engage in political activism, but this was forbidden "during working hours", he said.
If the court upholds the first ruling, Le Pen will be prevented from running in the 2027 election, widely seen as her best chance to win the country's top job.
She made it to the second round in the 2017 and 2022 presidential polls, before losing to Emmanuel Macron. But he cannot run this time after two consecutive terms in office.
If she cannot run, her protégé, 30-year-old RN party president Jordan Bardella, is expected to step in.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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