French centre-right presidential candidate Francois Fillon has said he will fight on, as he announced that a judge was placing him under formal investigation.<\/p>\n
For weeks, he has fought allegations that his wife was paid for years for work she did not do.<\/p>\n
“It’s a political assassination,” Mr Fillon told reporters on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
He has now been summoned to appear before the judge, Serge Tournaire, on 15 March.<\/p>\n
The date is just two days before the deadline for candidates to submit their final applications. The first round takes place on 23 April, followed by a second-round run-off on 7 May.<\/p>\n
What did he say?<\/strong> “It’s not just me that is being assassinated, it’s the presidential election. The voices of millions of votes have been muzzled,” the Republican candidate complained.<\/p>\n He said he would respect the summons and tell the judge the truth.<\/p>\n The judge, Mr Tournaire, has heard several high-profile cases, including those of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and tycoon Bernard Tapie.<\/p>\n Who is Francois Fillon?<\/strong> For a time he was the favourite in the race to succeed Francois Hollande as president, but then came the “fake jobs” allegations in satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine.<\/p>\n His appearances have recently been accompanied by loud protests and he has accused the government of allowing the campaign to turn into “a climate of quasi civil war”.<\/p>\n He has slipped to third in the polls, behind far-right National Front (FN) leader Marine le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron.<\/p>\n Ms Le Pen also faces allegations that she misused EU funds – a claim she denies.<\/p>\n One of her aides is under police investigation over the allegations – but Ms Le Pen has refused a police interview, using her immunity as a European member of parliament.<\/p>\n What is he accused of?<\/strong> Le Canard Enchaine alleged she was paid \u20ac831,400 (\u00a3710,000; $900,000) over several years for working as a parliamentary assistant but reportedly had no parliamentary pass. She was also alleged to have picked up \u20ac100,000 for writing a handful of articles for a literary journal.<\/p>\n The family has consistently denied the claims. Initially Mr Fillon said he would stand down as a candidate if his case was placed under formal investigation, but recently he insisted that he would fight on “until victory”.<\/p>\n “The closer we get to the date of the presidential election, the more scandalous it would be to deprive the right and centre of a candidate,” he said.<\/p>\n Mr Fillon cancelled a key visit to an agricultural show at the last minute on Wednesday morning prompting speculation over the future of his presidential campaign.<\/p>\n “It’s like symbolically giving up on your candidacy,” said Florian Philippot, close adviser to far-right National Front (FN) candidate Marine Le Pen.<\/p>\n How have people reacted?<\/strong> Mr Le Maire said he felt Mr Fillon had broken his promise that he would step down if formally investigated.<\/p>\n Keeping one’s word was “indispensable to the credibility of politics”, he said in a statement on Twitter (in French).<\/p>\n However, other Republicans have expressed their support.<\/p>\n Politician Bernard Debre said the investigation was an attempt to thwart Mr Fillon’s presidential hopes, and said he was “doing the right thing” by staying in the race.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, rival Mr Macron said investigators should be “allowed to do [their] work as normal”.<\/p>\n He added that even if Mr Fillon won the vote, he would not be automatically cleared of wrongdoing. –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" French centre-right presidential candidate Francois Fillon has said he will fight on, as he announced that a judge was placing him under formal investigation. For weeks, he has fought allegations that his wife was paid for years for work she did not do. “It’s a political assassination,” Mr Fillon told reporters on Wednesday. He has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[4574,4575],"yoast_head":"\n
\nIn a combative speech on Wednesday announcing the formal investigation, Mr Fillon called on his supporters to “resist”, saying it was up to voters to decide his fate.<\/p>\n
\nA former prime minister during Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidency, he was selected late last year in national primaries held by the centre-right Republicans that attracted some four million voters.<\/p>\n
\nThe allegations circling around the Fillon family focus mainly on his Welsh-born wife Penelope.<\/p>\n
\nOne of Mr Fillon’s key allies, former agriculture minister Bruno Le Maire, has resigned from the campaign team.<\/p>\n
\nFar-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon criticised Mr Fillon’s decision, tweeting (in French): “Fillon is asking somehow for the citizens to vote for his immunity. This is not the point of an election.”<\/p>\n