"There was no overcharging" in Mélenchon's campaign

Neither over-billing, nor personal enrichment, nor embezzlement of public funds: Jean-Luc Mélenchon's former communications director Sophia Chikirou refuted, on Tuesday (October 23rd), the suspicions evoked during the presidential campaign of the unsubmitted candidate, the day after of his hearing by the police.

"There was no overbilling, Mediascop [société de Sophia Chikirou, prestataire de conseils pour la campagne] has not overcharged, there is no personal enrichment, there has been no misappropriation of public funds "she said at the beginning of an interview on BFMTV.

"Jean-Luc Mélenchon's campaign was the least expensive of the first five candidates. "

Sophia Chikirou is the guest of @ 19HRuthElkrief https://t.co/Vp0OhEHtkR

– BFMTV (@BFMTV)

The leader of the consulting company Mediascop is suspected of having " invoice " his services to candidate Mélenchon.

This preliminary investigation of the parquet of Paris concerns the accounts of the campaign of Jean-Luc Mélenchon for the presidential election of 2017. After the examination of the accounting documents communicated by the insubordinate France, the National Commission of the accounts of campaign and the political financings (CNCCFP) has, as provided by law, published said accounts and validated them on February 13, opening the right to reimbursement by the State.

At the same time, however, the CNCCFP noted a number of irregularities and had to deduct € 434,000 from expenses that it considered to be unrelated to "The solicitation of the votes of the electors". An element found in many campaign accounts. But this time, the Committee considered that these irregularities could constitute criminal offenses. On 16 March, the President sent the case to the court as the law requires.

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Mélenchon denies any extra billing in his campaign: "Those who say it are liars"

The Paris prosecutor's office took over and opened a preliminary inquiry in April to "Scam and attempted scam", " breach of trust ", "Offense under election campaign financing legislation" and "Concealed work aggravated". Paris prosecutor François Molins has appealed to OCLCIFF to investigate a "Possible violation of the requirements of the electoral code relating to the financing of electoral campaigns".

• Why does Chikirou's status question?

Several elements pose questions in the campaign accounts of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, coming from two structures outside the campaign: the company Mediascop, which was in charge of the communication operations and which invoiced 1.161 million euros of delivery to the campaign badociation of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and the badociation l'Ere du peuple, which invoiced 440 027 euros of various benefits (site design, meeting management, communication, event management).

The preliminary inquiry therefore aims to determine whether France insubordinate and those responsible for its campaign have tried to be reimbursed by the State sums that either have no connection with the solicitation of voters, or have artificially inflated for the purpose of enrichment.

A suspicion reinforced by the double hat of Sophia Chikirou, one of the people at the center of the questions of the investigators. Sophia Chikirou, who joined Jean-Luc Mélenchon in 2008, was during the campaign both the director of communication of the unsubmitted candidate … and the sole shareholder and president of Mediascop, the company she co-founded in 2012 and who was the main provider of the communication of the campaign. Sophia Chikirou, as director of communication, therefore piloted operations that she invoiced mainly to Mediascop, her own company.

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Suspicions of fictitious jobs and campaign accounts: the two cases targeting Mélenchon