President Emmanuel Macron has called for a probe into claims that prosecutors were pressured to move fast in a fraud inquiry against former prime minister François Fillon, his main right-wing rival in France's 2017 presidential race.
Fillon lost what many considered a walkover vote after a newspaper report claimed that he orchestrated a fake parliamentary assistant job for his wife that saw her paid hundreds of thousands of euros (dollars) in public funds.
A ruling will be handed down on June 29 after a trial in which Fillon vigorously denied the claims, saying he was the victim of a political hit job, reports RFI.
The scandal flared anew this week after it emerged that the former head of France's Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) told lawmakers she had sustained "pressure" and "very strict oversight" aimed at bringing charges quickly against Fillon.
Fillon's supporters seized on the comments as proof that the prosecutor's superiors, possibly acting at the behest of justice ministry officials, had infringed on the judiciary’s independence to speed his downfall.
He was charged* six weeks after the fraud claims emerged in the investigative Le Canard enchaîné newspaper, an unusually swift move in a country where legal inquiries can take years.
The top Paris public prosecutor denied exercising any undue pressure and on Friday the former financial prosecutor, Éliane Houlette, tried to walk back her statements, saying she "regretted" that they had been "distorted or misunderstood".
But the uproar prompted Macron's office to say late Friday that the president had asked France's judicial watchdog, the Supreme Judiciary Council, to investigate the claims.
"These statements, which have provoked a significant outcry, have been interpreted as showing that pressure could have been put on the judiciary during a critical moment in our democratic process," the presidential Élysée Palace said in a statement.
Read more of this report from RFI.
*Editor's note: Under a change to the French legal system introduced in 1993, a magistrate can decide a suspect should be 'placed under investigation' (mis en examen), which is a status one step short of being charged (inculpé), if there is 'serious or concordant' evidence that they committed a crime. Some English-language media describe this status, peculiar to French criminal law, as that of being charged. In fact, it is only at the end of an investigation that a decision can be made to bring charges, in which case the accused is automatically sent for trial.