Placement under legal protection: what are the consequences for Jean-Marie le Pen?

At 95, the former president of the National Front (ex-RN) was placed “under legal protection,” Louis Aliot said this Wednesday morning. Jean-Marie Le Pen was the subject of a future protection warrant in mid-February, said his lawyer, Me François Wagner.

More flexible than a curatorship or guardianship, the future protection mandate takes the form of a contract allowing a person in good health to anticipate the deterioration of their intellectual or cognitive capacities to designate themselves one or more mandataries in charge to act in his place when the time comes. In fact, the powers of the agent are quite extensive and comparable to those of a guardian. “The main interest of this measure lies in the choice of the agent, while the curator and the tutor are designated by court decision,” explains to Le Figaro Me François Wagner.

“Jean-Marie Le Pen signed a future protection mandate with his three daughters, Marie-Caroline, Yann and Marine, in October 2022 before a notary,” specifies Me François Wagner. But this mandate could only be opened by court decision, after observation by an expert doctor of the deterioration of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s capacities. “At the request of the family, a doctor established the deterioration of Mr. Le Pen’s physical health as well as that of his memory,” explains the lawyer of the founder of the flame party. Following which, on February 16, 2024, the local court of Puteaux (Hauts-de Seine) gave effect to the mandate at the request of the family. Please note that Louis Aliot’s announcement on April 3, 2024 comes more than two years after the conclusion of this mandate and almost three weeks after its opening.

What does the mandate that opened on February 16 for the Le Pen girls actually consist of? The mandate between “le Menhir” and his daughters having been concluded by notarial deed, they relate to all types of deeds, including deeds of sale. From now on, Marie-Caroline, Yann and Marine Le Pen will be able to carry out, alone or together, various civil acts in the name of their father, concerning for example banks, the tax administration, or pension funds. “The agents are not completely guardians,” explains Me François Wagner, “because Jean-Marie Le Pen will retain the exercise of his rights as long as he is capable of doing so. But that’s the only difference because the two statuses are very close.” Once opened, a protection mandate lasts two years, compared to five years in the case of curatorship or guardianship.

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But the real question is undoubtedly elsewhere. Could the opening of this protection warrant allow Jean-Marie Le Pen not to appear at his trial in the European parliamentary assistants affair scheduled for the fall? Indeed, without automatically leading to the impossibility of appearing, the activation of the future protection mandate constitutes an indicator of the state of health of the person. “Mr. Le Pen can no longer travel,” argued François Wagner to the court.

The Paris criminal court must rule on this point on July 3, after advice from medical experts. The magistrates will not only have to confirm Jean-Marie Le Pen’s inability to travel, but also assess whether or not this inability prevents him from defending himself during his trial. If the court found that Jean-Marie Le Pen could not fully defend himself, the trial would be postponed pending an illusory recovery.

This hypothesis of a trial without Jean-Marie Le Pen would further complicate an already sprawling case. Among the defendants, in addition to the former president of the National Front, are Marine Le Pen, Louis Aliot, the former number 2 of the party Bruno Gollnisch, the executive vice-president of Reconquête! Nicolas Bay, the former treasurer of the FN Wallerand de Saint-Just or the deputy and spokesperson for the RN Julien Odoul.

Also read: European parliamentary assistants: where are the investigations?

Former MEP Jean-François Jalkh is also targeted, but he too could be subject to a dismissal of his case, for health reasons. In total, around ten people who were elected MEPs on National Front (now RN) lists, twelve others who were their parliamentary assistants, as well as four party collaborators must be judged.

But, if Jean-Marie Le Pen and Jean-François Jalkh were ultimately not to appear, the defense of many defendants – starting with those of their assistants – could be “hindered”, underlined several sources close to the case, highlighting emphasizes “the indivisibility of proceedings”.

The investigation began in March 2015. The European Parliament announced that it had referred possible irregularities committed by the National Front concerning salaries paid to parliamentary assistants to the EU anti-fraud office. The magistrates suspect the flame party of having “concertedly and deliberately” put in place a “system of embezzlement” of the envelopes (21,000 euros per month) allocated by the European Union to each MP to pay parliamentary assistants. The latter would have actually worked all or part for the FN, thus allowing it substantial salary savings. The European Parliament, the civil party, assessed its damage in 2018 at 6.8 million euros for the years 2009 to 2017.