1st LD Writethru: Le Pen's chief of staff placed under formal investigation over alleged EU fund misuse

The chief of staff of French far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen was placed under formal investigation on Wednesday as part of a probe into the alleged misuse of European Union funds, a local daily reported.

Earlier on Wednesday, Catherine Griset was grilled by judicial police over salaries she had received for her work as Le Pen's parliamentary assistant, Le Figaro said on its website, citing a judicial source.

Griset was put into custody along with Le Pen's bodyguard Thierry Legier, who was later released, it added.

The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) accused Le Pen of using European Parliament funds to pay her France-based assistant a total of 298,500 euros (314,947 U.S. dollars) between December 2010 and February 2016.

According to European rules, the EU parliamentary aide should work in one of the parliament's three offices in Brussels, Strasbourg, or Luxembourg.

The far-right leader and European lawmaker is also accused of paying her bodyguard 41,554 euros for the October to December 2011 period, according to local reports.

Le Pen, whose presidential bid is gaining momentum, dismissed any wrongdoing and described the affair as "a political plot."

Pollsters say Le Pen is likely to win the first round of voting in the presidential elections on April 27. However, she would lose the run-off in May to whoever should be her opponent, although she narrowed the gap on her main rivals, conservative contender Francois Fillon and centrist ex-economy minister Emmanuel Macron.

Styling herself as "the candidate of people," Le Pen has pledged to crack down on migration, send home all illegal migrants, and impose taxes on jobs being done by foreigners.

If she were to win the election, she said she would propose a "Frexit" to quit the European bloc and restore internal borders and local currency. (1 euro = 1.06 U.S. dollars) Endit