Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
broken clouds
weather
OMAN
23°C / 23°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Fillon stays in race for French presidency

920241
920241
minus
plus

PARIS: French conservative presidential candidate Francois Fillon on Monday defended his past conduct in a scandal involving payments to his wife for work which a press report says she did not do and said he would push on in his bid for the presidency.


At a news conference in Paris, Fillon, 62, apologised to France for what he said was an error of judgment regarding the employment of his family, though he said his wife had genuinely worked for 15 years as a parliamentary assistant.


Announcing he would not pull out of the election, due to take place in April and May, he said: “A new campaign starts this evening.”


“I am the only candidate which can bring about a national recovery,” he said.


French presidential candidate Francois Fillon on Monday apologised for the “error” he made in hiring his wife as a parliamentary aide while denying she was paid for a fake job.


“I apologise to the French people,” conservative candidate Fillon told a press conference, admitting it was an “error” that he regretted “deeply”.


In an aggressive performance that saw him accuse the media of trying to destroy him politically, Fillon said his British-born wife Penelope’s salary was “perfectly justified” and he would continue in the presidential race.


Addressing allegations that Penelope did not actually perform any duties to earn hundreds of thousands of euros, Fillon said: “No-one has the right to judge what a parliamentary assistant’s job consists of, except the MP himself.”


He said his wife had worked constantly to assist in his constituency business and that her average monthly salary of 3,700 euros ($4,000) after tax over 15 years had been fair for a woman with training in law.


— Reuters


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon