mwanaone
JF-Expert Member
- Apr 2, 2011
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French Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux has resigned over a "fake jobs" row involving work he gave his two daughters when they were teenagers.
Mr Le Roux told a news conference that he felt it was his "responsibility", but denied wrongdoing.
It is alleged that his daughters were being paid for work while involved in other activities.
The Socialist minister has repeatedly insisted that the summer jobs were legitimate.
French President Francois Hollande said he had accepted Mr Le Roux's resignation and named Trade Minister Matthias Fekl as his successor.
Centre-right presidential candidate Francois Fillon is already under investigation for employing his family.
That probe has now been widened to include possible forgery and aggravated fraud, French media report.
Investigators are looking at whether Mr Fillon and his wife Penelope forged documents to try to justify the €700,000 ($755,000; £610,000) she was given for work as a parliamentary assistant that she is alleged not to have carried out.
Now Le Canard Enchaine newspaper - which broke the allegations about the jobs for Mr Fillon's family - has reported that a Lebanese billionaire paid a firm owned by Mr Fillon $50,000 for helping to arrange a meeting in 2015 with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Total's CEO Patrick Pouyanne.
Mr Fillon's campaign team told the AFP news agency that "the suspicions of conflict of interest are totally unfounded".
Initially the favourite to win the presidential election in April and May, Mr Fillon is now running third in the opinion polls.
Mr Le Roux told a news conference that he felt it was his "responsibility", but denied wrongdoing.
It is alleged that his daughters were being paid for work while involved in other activities.
The Socialist minister has repeatedly insisted that the summer jobs were legitimate.
French President Francois Hollande said he had accepted Mr Le Roux's resignation and named Trade Minister Matthias Fekl as his successor.
Centre-right presidential candidate Francois Fillon is already under investigation for employing his family.
That probe has now been widened to include possible forgery and aggravated fraud, French media report.
Investigators are looking at whether Mr Fillon and his wife Penelope forged documents to try to justify the €700,000 ($755,000; £610,000) she was given for work as a parliamentary assistant that she is alleged not to have carried out.
Now Le Canard Enchaine newspaper - which broke the allegations about the jobs for Mr Fillon's family - has reported that a Lebanese billionaire paid a firm owned by Mr Fillon $50,000 for helping to arrange a meeting in 2015 with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Total's CEO Patrick Pouyanne.
Mr Fillon's campaign team told the AFP news agency that "the suspicions of conflict of interest are totally unfounded".
Initially the favourite to win the presidential election in April and May, Mr Fillon is now running third in the opinion polls.