French President Emmanuel Macron’s minister under scrutiny over ethics claims

French Minister of European Affairs Marielle de Sarnez, right, arrives to attend the weekly cabinet meeting on May 24, 2017 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AFP photo)

A second minister from the government of French President Emmanuel Macron is being investigated for an alleged breach of trust.

Reports in the French media on Tuesday said prosecutors had opened up an initial investigation on March 22 into a possible breach of trust by Marielle de Sarnez, who currently serves as France's European affairs minister.

The investigation began after Sophie Montel, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from France's National Front (FN), sent letters to the European Union fraud watchdog and Paris prosecutors, accusing de Sarnez and 18 other colleagues in the chamber of diverting funds available for parliamentary assistants.

Sophie Montel, a Member of the European Parliament from France's National Front

The revelations emerged after de Sarnez lodged a slander complaint against Montel on Tuesday. Some media outlets had reported in April on the letters and the probe, but the MEPs were not identified at the time.

De Sarnez, an MEP since 1999, quit the legislature on May 17, when he became minister under the government led by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. She said on Monday that there was nothing wrong with a part-time parliamentary aide in her employ.

"Her situation was declared and verified by the European Parliament,” de Sarnaz said.

A source in Brussels, where the European Parliament is based, also elaborated on the legal nature of the activities carried out by de Sarnaz’s assistant, adding that they “were seen as not posing a risk of a conflict of interest.”

The allegations against de Sarnaz emerge days after Richard Ferrand, another minister in Macron's first cabinet, escaped an investigation into claims that he had benefited from a property deal while he ran a public health insurance fund. The scandals could embarrass Macron as his fledgling government is preparing a new law to clean up politics.

Other French MEP’s, who have been targeted by Montel, reacted to the claims by the FN member, saying they were an attempt by the far-right party to downgrade an ongoing probe by the European parliament into the party’s alleged misuse of European funds for presidential campaign in France.  

Ecology MEP Eva Joly said Montel was fingering de Sarnaz and others as “a counter-attack by the National Front which bent the rules of the parliament in a wholesale way.” Montel responded by telling the French television that "de Sarnez can do what she likes."