Marine Le Pen is among the latest prominent figures to be swept up in the Panama Papers scandal. But anyone hoping that this scandal can halt the rise of her far-right Front National movement has seriously underestimated her—and overestimated France’s political mainstream.
The allegation—made by Le Monde—is that close aides of Marine Le Pen created a series of offshore accounts based variously in Panama, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the British Virgin Islands. Le Monde claims this complex offshore system was centered around Frédéric Chatillon, a former media adviser to the Front National. Chatillon has already been charged with electoral fraud relating to the 2012 presidential and legislative elections.
The Front National (FN) has strongly denied any suggestion that it has avoided paying tax. It has argued that the party should not be held to account for the actions of former employees and even dismissed the practices of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca as an obvious symptom of unchecked globalization.
Le Pen has long sought to cleanse the Front National’s image, moving it away from the divisive rhetoric espoused by her father Jean-Marie Le Pen during his time as leader. It would therefore stand to reason that these financial allegations would somewhat detract from the “woman of the people” image Marine Le Pen has set out to create.
Her attempts to define herself as a down-to-earth and approachable politician were particularly in evidence when she stood as a candidate for the leadership of the regional council in the Nord-pas-de-Calais region in November 2015. And it seemed to have some impact. She ultimately lost the contest to mainstream-right candidate Xavier Bertrand, but it was a very close call.
