Over 150,000 Sign Petition Urging Fillon’s Wife to Repay Salary for Fake Job

Over 150,000 people have signed a petition urging France's center-right The Republicans’ presidential hopeful Francois Fillon’s wife, who had allegedly been paid from the state funds for a fake job, to return the money to the National Assembly.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On Wednesday, French prosecutors opened a probe into Fillon's wife who in 1998-2002 was allegedly paid between 6,900 and 7,900 euros (up to $8,500) for working as her husband's parliamentary aide and in 2012-2013 received 5,000 euros as a monthly salary at prestigious cultural magazine La Revue des Deux Mondes, owned by Fillon's friend Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere.

"A total of 500,000 euros [$535,000] were transferred for this position. The sum would seem exaggerated, since you have repeatedly said in different interviews that you have never been engaged in your husband's political life. This is an issue of ethics and morality: if you have never performed the duties of the parliamentary aide, we ask you to return these 500,000 euros to the National Assembly and thus to us, the French people," the petition said.

The author of the petition, which gathered 100,000 signatures in the first 24 hours, is Christophe Grebert, a member of the Puteaux City Council.

Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said the scandal surrounding Fillon and his wife was a matter of trust between him and French people.

Never miss a story again — sign up to our Telegram channel and we'll keep you up to speed!