Sophia Chikirou, a prominent MP for the left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI) and close ally of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, was indicted on Tuesday for aggravated fraud and abuse of corporate assets in connection with the 2017 presidential campaign accounts of Mélenchon.
The indictment was confirmed by judicial sources and comes after years of investigation into alleged financial misconduct surrounding Mélenchon’s campaign.
At the heart of the investigation is Mediascop, a communications consulting firm owned by Chikirou, which is accused of overcharging for services provided during the campaign. Chikirou, a 45-year-old MP for Paris, denies the allegations.
The investigation, launched in April 2018, was prompted by suspicions that Mediascop had inflated service costs during the presidential run. Chikirou’s company reportedly billed €54,600 to the left-wing party during the campaign, of which €35,250 was later flagged by the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing (CNCCFP) for “significant discrepancies” between the amounts charged and the firm’s official price list.
Despite these concerns, the CNCCFP approved Mélenchon’s campaign accounts in late 2017 after deducting €434,939 in questionable expenses from the total €10.7 million declared by the campaign. However, the commission had raised specific “questions” regarding the billing practices of both Mediascop and another organization tied to the campaign, L’Ere du peuple.
Initially, the investigation led to the indictment of L’Ere du peuple and Marie-Pierre Oprandi, Mélenchon’s financial agent, in 2021 for charges including “illicit loan of labor” and the use of forgeries. This had been seen as a partial victory for LFI, as it initially steered the inquiry away from the more serious allegations of fraud and overbilling.
However, subsequent revelations suggested a deeper level of misconduct. According to reports in the French media, tasks billed by L’Ere du peuple were allegedly carried out by other service providers, with the association issuing false invoices to cover the costs. This led to further indictments, including LFI deputy Bastien Lachaud, who had served as treasurer for the campaign, and L’Ere du peuple, for aggravated fraud and forgery-related offenses.
The developments are expected to cause further complications for La France Insoumise, with Chikirou’s divisive figure looming over the left-wing alliance known as the New Popular Front which contested the recent general election.
She caused controversy last month by posting a hommage on social media to Ismaël Hanniyah, the former leader of the Hamas group who was assassinated in the Iranian capital of Tehran.
The MP reposted screenshots of Hanniyah which described the leader of the proscribed terror organization as a “resistance” fighter and a “martyr” before deleting the posts from her account.
