Francois Fillon has promised to hit back fast with the facts that show his British wife Penelope is above suspicion, after prosecutors launched a preliminary investigation into claims that she received public money improperly.
He needs to do just that. Otherwise this family affair could have grave consequences indeed on his chances to be the next French president, BBC reported.
According to Fillon’s lawyers, the documents currently being fast-tracked to the prosecutors’ office will demolish the central charge that for more than eight years, Penelope Fillon was paid for non-existent work as his parliamentary assistant.
But the problem for Fillon is that even if he provides proof that his wife did indeed earn her $534,000, it does not mean the end of the affair.
All may have been done strictly according to the law, and indeed to common parliamentary practice, but the image many voters will retain is of yet another senior politician feeding from the public trough.
Add in the second allegation carried by Le Canard Enchaine that Mrs. Fillon was paid €100,000 for a sinecure publishing job provided by a billionaire friend of her husband’s and you can see why right now Republican Party eyes are distinctly unsmiling.
