I’ll quit if I’m charged, says beleaguered frontrunner
Francois Fillon, seen as the frontrunner in the race for the French presidency, is struggling to save his campaign amid allegations that for years his wife was paid for parliamentary work that she did not do.
Police have begun questioning witnesses to determine whether Fillon legally or fraudulently paid €500,000 of public funds to his British-born wife, Penelope – prompting the Republicans party to debate replacing him as its candidate for the elections in April.
The former prime minister’s approval rating has dropped four points to 38 per cent since the controversy began on Wednesday, according to an Odoxa poll.
Alain Juppe, the mayor of Bordeaux, who was beaten by Fillon for the party’s nomination, was the first to raise publicly the possibility that Fillon might drop out.
Juppe yesterday denied that he himself might return to the race, and insisted that Fillon, 62, remained the Republicans candidate, but added: ‘‘This is obviously worrying. I can’t say otherwise.’’
Fillon’s team was angered by Juppe’s remark, and by the absence of any support from Nicolas Sarkozy, whom he beat in the primary thanks, in part, to the allegations of sleaze surrounding the former president.
Privately, Fillon’s aides acknowledged that the affair had upset the candidate’s hopes of a clear march to victory in against Marine Le Pen, National Front leader, in a runoff 48, the the second presidential round Voters may also turn Emmanuel Macron, 39, in May. towards an independent candidate.
Prosecutors opened a preliminary inquiry after a satirical newspaper reported that Fillon had employed his wife as a fulltime parliamentary assistant for several years from 1997, including a period from 2007 working for his successor while he served as a cabinet minister.
Le Canard enchaine said that Penelope Fillon had not performed any known parliamentary duties. It also reported that she had been paid €100,000 for 18 months spent on the payroll of a journal owned by a friend of her husband.
Francois Fillon, who was chosen as the Republicans candidate in November, indignantly denied any wrongdoing, stating that employing family members was legal.
‘‘Without the work my wife carried out, I would not be where I am now,’’ he said.
He said he would withdraw from the presidential race only if he were subject to preliminary criminal charges – something he claimed would not happen.
Charges could be brought directly by prosecutors or by an investigating judge, but no decision is expected before the elections.
Fillon said his wife had worked hard, helping with his constituency work since he was a young MP in the early 1980s.
She had ‘‘corrected my speeches, received countless people who wanted to see me, represented me at functions and produced press reviews’’, he said. ‘‘She conveyed to me requests from people, changes in our society.’’
He also revealed that he had employed two of their children, Marie and Charles, as lawyers when he was a senator between 2005 and 2007 – although media reports yesterday alleged that neither was a qualified lawyer then.
Investigators have questioned Christine Kelly, author of an authorised biography of Fillon, who told Le Canard enchaine that she had ‘‘never heard that Mrs Fillon worked’’.
Kelly tweeted that she had been threatened by unnamed people who wanted her silence.
Condemnation of Fillon has flowed on social media, with many accusing the man who dazzled many French people with his aura of integrity of hypocrisy.
Segolene Royal, former partner of President Francois Hollande, said: ‘‘Fillon has been urging the French to make sacrifices. He should apply the principle to himself.’’
Fillon has at least been spared an outcry from the opposition – because many French politicians from all camps employ family members and friends as assistants.