France, March 31 -- A French court has banned far-right leader Marine Le Pen from holding public office for five years with immediate effect after finding her guilty of misusing EU funds through an alleged fake jobs scam. The verdict rules out her running in the 2027 presidential race, unless she successfully appeals beforehand.

The Paris court ruled on Monday that Marine Le Pen, who leads the far-right National Rally (RN) parliamentary group and eight other RN MEPs were guilty of embezzling EU funds to pay France-based party staff.

She and her fellow lawmakers are banned from running for office with immediate effect, even if an appeal is lodged.

The judge also gave Le Pen a four-year prison sentence with two suspended. The other two y...