This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

French police have questioned the leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon in connection with two funding investigations after raids on his home and party headquarters this week.

The firebrand leader of the France Unbowed party, who has led opposition to President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies, was summoned to the headquarters of the anti-corruption bureau in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

Police are investigating allegations that he used EU funds for European parliament assistants to pay staff for work carried out in France. They are also looking into allegations of irregularities in his 2017 presidential campaign accounts.

The 67-year-old MP, who won 20% of the vote in the first round of last year’s presidential election, has denied any wrongdoing and claims he is the victim of a political witch-hunt.

He reacted furiously to the raids on his home and party headquarters on Tuesday, shouting at police officers, shoving a prosecutor and attempting to force open the door of his party’s offices during the search.

The former Socialist minister has been strongly criticised over his outburst, with members of Macron’s government and the centre-right Republicans accusing him of seeking to intimidate public servants and acting as if he were above the law.

Mélenchon, who is famous for his tirades against globalisation, the EU and elites, admitted later that things “got heated” but said he had no regrets.

The Paris prosecutor’s office is investigating him and other party officials for alleged “threats and acts of intimidation against judicial authorities” and “violence against people carrying out public duties”. Mélenchon’s party has filed a counter-complaint alleging police violence.

The questioning on Thursday related to two investigations into party spending. Mélenchon is one of several French politicians, including the far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who are accused of spending funds available to MEPs for their Brussels-based assistants on political staff working in France.

Le Pen’s National Rally (formerly Front National) and the centrist Modem party have also been raided by investigators in recent months.

Mélenchon, who was an MEP from 2009 to 2017, has denied the allegations of misuse of funds, which were made by a member of the National Rally.

He was also questioned on Thursday over his 2017 campaign spending, specifically over invoices presented by two associations run by party loyalists.

Mélenchon, like Le Pen, has claimed that the investigations are an attempt to silence him. “France Unbowed is not treated like everyone else,” he said on Thursday, accusing the state of “trying to scare us”.