Financial prosecutor opens investigation into Fillon’s wife

PARIS – French presidential hopeful Francois Fillon’s so far smooth campaign hit its first major hurdle Wednesday, when financial prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation following claims that his wife was paid about 500,000 euros (more than $535,000) with parliamentary funds while holding a fictional position.

France’s financial prosecutor launched its probe on suspected grounds of embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds just hours after Le Canard Enchaine newspaper reported that Penelope Fillon earned the money as a parliamentary aide to her husband during his tenure as a lawmaker.

According to the weekly gazette, which said it had access to Penelope Fillon’s pay slips, the candidate’s wife was paid by her husband from 1998 to 2002 when he was lawmaker serving his native Sarthe region.

When Fillon was handed a minister position in 2002 under Jacque Chirac’s presidency, Penelope Fillon became an assistant to Marc Joulaud, who replaced her husband at the French parliament. Le Canard Enchaine said her wages went up during that period, earning between 6,900 and 7,900 euros a month before tax.

The newspaper claims that she was reemployed by her husband for at least six months in 2012 after Francois Fillon was elected Paris legislator.

It’s not illegal for French legislators to hire their relatives as long as they are genuinely employed. Fillon, who has been championing transparency in his campaign, denied any wrongdoing.

Fillon, a former prime minister, has been designated as the conservative presidential nominee. Early opinion polls suggest that he and far-right leader Marine Le Pen could advance to the second round of the election later this year.

During a trip to the southwestern city of Bordeaux, the conservative candidate hit back at the report, slamming the newspaper for what he perceives as a misogynistic approach.

“I can see they are opening fire with stink balls,” Fillon said. “I won’t make any comment because there is nothing to comment on. But I’m outraged by the contempt and the misogyny in this story. Just because she is my wife she should not be entitled to work? Could you imagine a politician saying, as this story did, that the only thing a woman can do is making jam? All the feminists would scream.”

Fillon’s spokesman Philippe Vigier earlier insisted that Penelope Fillon’s work wasn’t fictional.

Benoit Hamon, who is likely to win the Socialists’ primary and to face Fillon in the presidential race, proposed that close relatives of politicians should not be hired and paid in parliamentary funds in the future.

“Lawmakers should not be allowed to hire their children, cousins, relatives or wives anymore,” Hamon said in an interview with French public TV.