François Fillon, the rightwing French presidential candidate who has refused to quit over allegations he paid his wife from public funds for a fake job, has been hit with fresh claims that she was given generous severance payments, reports The Guardian.
The investigative and satirical weekly, the Canard Enchaîné, claimed British-born Penelope Fillon, who was highly paid from taxpayers’ money for 15 years as a parliamentary assistant, had received a total of €45,000 (£38,400) in severance payments at the end of two contracts.
The new claims come after Fillon went on the offensive, refusing to stand aside, saying he was the victim of a media plot and attempting to kickstart his flagging campaign.
In a statement titled “The Canard Enchaîné’s lies”, Fillon disputed the paper’s sums and said he had provided all the financial details of his wife’s contracts on his website.
Some polls have showed he has slipped from presidential favourite to being likely to be eliminated in the first round of the election in April, with the far-right Front National’s Marine Le Pen and the independent centrist Emmanuel Macron qualifying for the final runoff in May.
Fillon has repeatedly said the jobs for his family were real and legal. He admitted on Monday that he had committed an “error” by employing his wife as his assistant – a practice that is allowed under French law provided the job is genuine, but which is viewed as increasingly unacceptable by French voters.
French prosecutors are carrying out a preliminary investigation into the possible “misuse of public funds” to determine whether or not Penelope Fillon had in fact done any work for her husband. That investigation has been extended to two of Fillon’s children whom he also paid as assistants when he was a senator.