French financial police raided the headquarters of a national populist political party, the group's leader said Wednesday.
Documents relating to recent electoral campaigns were seized at the rightist Rassemblement National (National Rally) party, Jordan Bardella said.
"Since 8:50 this morning, the headquarters of the Rassemblement National — including the offices of its leaders — have been the subject of a search conducted by approximately twenty armed police officers from the Financial Brigade, wearing bulletproof vests, accompanied by two investigating judges," Bardella wrote on X.
"All emails, documents, and accounting records of the leading opposition party have been seized, although we do not yet know the precise allegations underlying them."
Bardella, 29, said all files relating to the party's recent regional, presidential, legislative, and European campaigns "are now in the hands of the courts."
"This spectacular and unprecedented operation is clearly part of a new harassment operation. It is a serious attack on pluralism and democratic change," he wrote. "Never before has an opposition party suffered such relentless persecution under the Fifth Republic."
Ballard said the search targeted alleged "regular lenders."
"A vague charge, without a clear definition, already investigated by the Campaign Accounts Commission," he wrote.
"Suspecting our activists — often elderly, honest, and committed — who lend to the Rassemblement National for lack of a bank willing to do so, of 'illegal practice of the banking profession' is a farce."
Bardella said the search was conducted "to provide a spectacle" for the media and "to search the private correspondence" and documents of "the leading opposition party."
"Nothing to do with justice, everything to do with politics," he said.
The Paris prosecutor said the raid was part of a probe that began after "multiple alerts from an institutional source" that alleged the party illegally financed its campaigns, Financial Times reported.
"The judicial investigation aims to determine whether these campaigns were financed through illegal loans from individuals benefiting the party or its candidates, as well as through overbilling of services or invoicing for fake services that were later included in the reimbursement requests submitted to the state for campaign expenses," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
In March, former Rassemblement National leader Marine Le Pen was convicted of embezzling European Union funds and barred her from holding office for five years.
She is appealing the verdict and said she plans to succeed French President Emmanuel Macron.
President Donald Trump defended Le Pen, comparing her legal battles to his own and calling her conviction on embezzlement charges "lawfare" to keep her from winning a "big victory" in the nation's upcoming elections.
AFP contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.