French to probe Le Pen over 'secret' fund claims

French judicial authorities are considering opening an investigation into allegations that National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen concealed funds in a Swiss bank account.

Tracfin, the state intelligence agency, which investigates money laundering and terrorism funding, raised its suspicions with prosecutors on Monday.

The development follows the publication of a report by investigative news website Mediapart on Monday that alleged Mr Le Pen may have been the ultimate benificiary of an HSBC Swiss bank account with €2.2m of funds, mostly in gold bars and coins.

The account was opened in the name of a trust overseen by Mr Le Pen's former butler Gerald Gerin and was transferred from HSBC to the Compagnie Bancaire Helvetique, a Swiss private bank, in May last year, according to the Mediapart report. The trust, Balerton Marketing Limited, was reportedly set up in the British Virgin Islands.

"The prosecutor will now study the Tracfin report and decide whether to start a preliminary investigation," a spokeswoman for Catherine Denis, the prosecutor in Nanterre, a Paris suburb close to Mr Le Pen's home, told the Financial Times. She refused to elaborate on the details of the case.

Tracfin, which does not have the power to conduct full investigations, typically alerts the relevant court when it finds matters that justify scrutiny.

Mr Le Pen told France Inter radio on Tuesday: "This is part of a general offensive launched against me." Tracfin declined to comment.

Mr Gerin, listed as a member of the FN central committee, told Mediapart he was not a beneficiary of the trust and said he would be asking for explanations from Mr Le Pen and lawyers.

The National Front founder could face legal action for failing to make full disclosure of his estate to financial watchdogs, if the report by the investigative website is substantiated.

The development adds to Mr Le Pen's recent woes. The 86-year-old far-right politician publicly fell out with his daughter and party leader Marine Le Pen three weeks ago, plunging the anti-immigration, anti-euro party into turmoil. The dispute was triggered by Mr Le Pen's comments in the press that the gas chambers had been a "a detail of the history" of the second world war.

Following the row, Mr Le Pen, who founded the FN in 1972 and is still honorary chairman, gave in to his daughter's demand to withdraw his candidacy in the regional elections, which are taking place in December. Mr Le Pen subsequently went to hospital for a few days last week after suffering minor heart problems.

But Ms Le Pen, whose strategy to "sanitise" the far-right party has helped broaden its electoral base since she took over from his father in 2011, said the FN's executive committee would consider sanctions next week.

Ms Le Pen, who some polls predict could beat President Francois Hollande in the second round of the presidential elections in 2017, is also facing her own legal issues related to the National Front. Judges are investigating allegations of illegal campaign financing that could involve Ms Le Pen and her inner circle. The FN has denied wrongdoing.

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