Paris, Dec 7 (AFP/APP): French veteran centrist leader Francois Bayrou was Friday charged with “complicity in siphoning off public money” in a case related to the embezzlement of European Parliament funds, a judicial source said. The move followed a broader investigation into allegations that MEPs from Bayrou’s MoDem party used cash intended to compensate parliamentary assistants to pay the salaries of people who were doing work for the political party. “This indictment, announced in advance to the media, is unfounded,” Bayrou’s lawyer Pierre Cornut-Gentille told AFP. “The follow-up will show it is totally unfounded.” Bayrou, 68, was questioned for 10 hours, a source said. Several figures from MoDem, which allied itself with President Emmanuel Macron’s party, have already been indicted or are being investigated in the scandal. They include former justice minister Michel Mercier and the financial director for MoDem, Alexandre Nardella. Magistrates are investigating whether they received European Parliament funds for assistants who were in fact carrying out other tasks for the centrist party. Sylvie Goulard, an MEP from 2009 to 2017 who now serves as a deputy governor of the French central bank, has already agreed to pay back 45,000 euros ($50,000) to the parliament. This corresponds to … Continue reading French centrist leader Francois Bayrou charged over funds misuse