French investigators have searched the offices of a magazine as part of a widening inquiry into whether presidential candidate Francois Fillon’s wife was paid for allegedly fictitious jobs, sources told AFP yesterday.
The raid late on Thursday at La Revue des Deux Mondes follows the launch of the investigation into Penelope Fillon’s role at the literary monthly, owned by a billionaire friend of her husband, as well as in the French parliament, where she was paid €500,000 ($534,000) as his aide.
The satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine, which broke the story, said that the Welsh-born Penelope Fillon had done nothing to earn her salary at the legislature, since it had been unable to find anyone who remembered her working there.
The newspaper also alleged that in 2012 and 2013, Penelope Fillon was paid €5,000 a month at La Revue des Deux Mondes, owned by Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere, 76.
Francois Fillon, the right-wing presidential candidate, has seen a drop in popularity ratings following the revelations.
La Revue des Deux Mondes (The Review of the Two Worlds) traces its roots to the French literary scene of the early 19th century.