French police have been searching the headquarters of Marine Le Pen's National Front party west of Paris in relation to a probe into alleged misuse of European Union funds to pay parliamentary assistants, a party official says.
"It looks on the face of it like a media operation whose goal is to disturb the course of the presidential campaign," the National Front said in a statement after Monday's search began.
The European parliament has said that, in her role as French National Front leader, Le Pen had during the 2011-12 legislature paid party staff with EU funds, which EU rules say should be used only to pay EU lawmakers' assistants.
Reuters
