French far-right Front National (FN) party's president Marine Le Pen | Patrick Kovarik/AFP via Getty Images National Front lashes out over Panama Papers speculation Far-right party threatens legal action against anyone making ‘scandalous allegations.’

PARIS — Marine Le Pen's National Front lashed out Monday against media suggesting the French far-right party might be involved in the Panama Papers leaks about offshore tax havens, threatening to sue anyone who suggested such a link.

Jérome Fenoglio, editorial director of Le Monde, set off speculation when he told RTL radio that his newspaper would publish proof Tuesday that a "major French political party" was cited in the leaks.

Before Le Monde could publish its article, Frédéric Chatillon — a longtime friend of Le Pen, and head of a communications firm named Riwal that frequently works with her party — wrote in a Facebook post that he was concerned about being cited in the Panama Papers.

According to Chatillon, who is under investigation on suspicion of illegal campaign financing for the Front, he and several associates sought to invest profits in Asia in 2012. A local firm advised them to set up a shell company, owned by a separate entity in the British Virgin Islands. That entity, he said, had been created by Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, which is at the heart of the tax evasion scandal, though Chatillon said he was not aware of its existence.

Chatillon added that he had shown two investigating journalists documents proving that this operation had been "perfectly legal."

After Chatillon's post the National Front published a statement refuting any connection with the Panama Papers.

"The National Front is not involved in the Panama Papers affair and will not tolerate scandalous allegations being made on its behalf," the statement said. "It will not hesitate to pursue legally anyone who engages in this sort of defamation."

Without commenting directly on Chatillon's statement, the party went on to argue that other parties had not been considered "involved" in the scandal because one of their current or former members, or their employers, happened to be mentioned in the papers.

Millions of files linked to Mossack Fonseca were leaked to the paper Süddeutsche Zeitung, exposing the tax arrangements of dozens of politicians and leaders.