The European Parliament announced Monday (9 March) that it had alerted anti-fraud investigators to possible financial irregularities committed by France’s far-right National Front (FN) party over salaries paid to EU parliamentary assistants.

In a statement on Monday (March 10), the European Parliament said that President Martin Schulz had informed OLAF, the bloc’s anti-corruption agency, that 20 people are being paid from the EU budget as lawmakers’ assistants, according to National Front documents, as officials of the party’s national organisation.

“Assistants paid by the European Parliament must perform work directly linked to the exercise of a member’s parliamentary mandate,” said the statement issued by the legislature.

A parliamentary source said the fraud totalled 7.5 million euros, confirming figures given by French daily newspaper Le Monde.

Schulz has also written to French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira to express his suspicions.

The statement stressed that assistants receiving wages from the European Parliament must work “directly” for Parliamentary MEPs.

“It is not for Parliament to draw conclusions. It is the OLAF to decide in its capacity as the EU anti-fraud agency,” stated European Parliament spokesman Jaume Duch.

National Front head Marine Le Pen announced on Twitter her intent to file a complaint over the “false accusation”.

.@manuelvalls mobilise ses amis socialistes contre le @FN_officiel : le président du Parlement européen sort la grosse caisse. 1/2 — Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) March 9, 2015

Une plainte sera déposée contre lui pour dénonciation calomnieuse. 2/2 #TweetPrécédent MLP — Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) March 9, 2015

“Basically, Schulz is right… our assistants do not work for the European Union but against it,” FN Vice President Florian Philippot tweeted, underlining his party’s political stance, while adding that the case was “bogus”.

Dans le fond, Schultz a raison…Nos assistants ne travaillent pas pour l’Union Européenne mais contre elle ! — Florian Philippot (@f_philippot) March 9, 2015

OLAF must now decide whether or not to open an investigation, a process which could take several months.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Sunday that the FN could win the next presidential election in 2017, saying their policies were a “disaster” for the country.

The National Front is leading in some French opinion polls, benefiting from discontent with Socialist President Francois Hollande and with high levels of unemployment.

Polls showed that the FN could win an “unprecedented” score in forthcoming local elections on March 22 and 29, Valls said.