Marine Le Pen’s party claims ‘persecution’ after Société Générale tells FN to take its business elsewhere after 30 years
France’s second largest bank has asked the Front National to close all its accounts and take its business elsewhere. The bank, Société Générale, told the far-right party, led by Marine Le Pen, that it wished to end its 30-year “banking relationship”. It gave no specific reason for the decision.
FN officials said they were fighting the move and claimed that the party was being persecuted. The party headquarters in Nanterre, outside Paris, and local FN federations, have all been targeted, the news website Mediapart and France Inter radio reported on Tuesday.
According to an internal party communication leaked to Mediapart, the bank is seeking to close all current and savings accounts held by the party.
An FN spokesman, David Rachline, told Sud Radio on Tuesday morning: “It’s a real scandal. We will resist and fight to overcome this persecution.”
SocGen has refused to comment on the row, citing client confidentiality. The bank stated: “We can only say that as part of the relationship we have with all our customers, whether it be for the opening or closing of an account, we follow the current regulations and requirements required of a banking establishment to the letter.”
On Tuesday FN officials denied that the decision had been made because the party accounts were in the red. “If that was the case why hasn’t Société Générale closed the UMP - Les Républicains’ accounts when they owe the considerable sum of €50m?” said Wallerand de Saint Just, the FN treasurer. “The Front National’s situation is perfectly healthy and there’s no reason for any banker to use that as an excuse to so brutally throw out a long-standing customer that has always behaved according to the banking rules.”
The FN was reported to have been asked to close its SocGen accounts several months ago, but it had challenged the decision with the banking mediator without success. On Monday the party had asked its federations to send monthly contributions by cheque because it had encountered difficulties with direct debits.
An anonymous FN official told Mediapart the party had no debts with SocGen and said the decision was “a political challenge”.
Louis Aliot, the FN vice-president and Le Pen’s partner, also said the party had no direct financial problems. “A certain number of financial institutions have difficulty with democracy and pluralism,” Aliot told BFMTV. “I’ve noticed that Société Générale is very generous with Les Républicains, especially when it comes to renegotiating their debts, when they own €50m, which is not our case. The French need to know that democracy is in the hands of the banks and those with money.”
During France’s presidential campaign Le Pen claimed that French banks were refusing to lend money to finance her leadership bid, which cost about €12.5m. This sum will be reimbursed out of state coffers but only after the party’s accounts have been inspected and approved.
FN federations took a second hit after failing to do as well as expected in the legislative elections in June, which were reported to have cost a further €15m.
The FN had appeared to be struggling to raise campaign funds in January after Le Pen was asked to repay a €9m loan from a Russian-based bank that had been dissolved. Le Pen met the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, at the Kremlin in March, two months before the presidential vote.
Le Pen has scheduled a press conference for Wednesday on the theme “French democracy threatened by financial oligarchs”.
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