France's Le Pen charged with breach of trust over EU funds
French prosecutors have put far-right leader Marine Le Pen under formal investigation as she faces a charge of breach of trust over alleged misuse of European Union funds.
The 48-year-old National Front leader was charged after she appeared before magistrates on Friday.
She had been summoned previously, but Le Pen, who was a member of the European Parliament, invoked her parliamentary immunity in refusing to attend questioning by investigating magistrates during her campaign bid for the French presidency.
Le Pen has previously denied the accusations, describing the case as politically motivated. Her lawyer said in a statement on Friday that she would appeal the investigation.
The parliament believes the party used money allocated to parliamentary assistants to pay its own staff for party work in France.
The case relates to an amount of about 5 million euros ($5.71 million).
The news comes less than two weeks after Le Pen was elected as a member of the French National Assembly.
Le Pen is also under investigation for posting pictures of violence by the Daesh Takfiri terrorists on Twitter. She also faces another probe into the financing of past election campaigns.
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