Centre-right presidential candidate, Francois Fillon has been informed that he is now under official investigation. He has also been ordered to appear before a judge regarding allegations that he paid his wife an exorbitant amount of money for work that wasn’t done.

The “fake jobs” allegations, first brought to light by French weekly Le Canard Enchaine, have dogged Fillonand his presidential campaign for weeks. As the election draws ever nearer, Fillon has found himself slipping in polls. Once thought to be the favourite to succeed Francois Hollande, the former French Prime Minister is now trailing in third place.

According to a report by the BBC, Fillon is alleged to have paid his Welsh-born wife Penelope, approximately 831,400 euros for work she never performed. Over the course of several years the payments involved were supposedly for her work as a parliamentary assistant, although his wife holds no parliamentary pass.  It has also been alleged that Penelope Fillon received 100,000 euros for articles she wrote for a literary journal.

The Fillon family has vehemently and consistently denied the allegations and have labelled them an attempt at political “assassination” on the part of FIllon’s opponents. “It’s not just me that is being assassinated,” Fillon has asserted. “It’s the presidential election. The voices of millions of votes have been muzzled.”

According to the same report, Fillon fully intends to honour the summons to appear before judge Serge Tournaire on March 15. He also vows to remain in the presidential race “until victory.”

Source :Morocco World News