Advertisement

French tycoon 'gave Fillon undeclared €50,000 loan'

The Local France
The Local France - [email protected]
French tycoon 'gave Fillon undeclared €50,000 loan'
Photo: AFP

Just as François Fillon thought he could get on with his presidential campaign, the embattled candidate was hit by more claims of financial irregularities on Tuesday from the same newspaper that revealed he had paid his wife hundreds of thousands for an alleged "fake job" as a parliamentary assistant.

Advertisement

French presidential hopeful Francois Fillon received an interest-free, undeclared loan of 50,000 euros ($53,000) from a billionaire friend in 2013, according to the Canard Enchaine weekly.

The conservative candidate "did not deem it necessary" to report the loan from Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere to a state transparency watchdog, the weekly said in its edition to appear Wednesday.

The  investigative and satirical newspaper, the source of the fake jobs scandal that has threatened to derail Fillon's candidacy, reported that his lawyer Antonin Levy had confirmed the loan had been repaid in full.

Ladreit de Lacharriere, whose magazine La Revue des Deux Mondes once had Fillon's wife on its payroll, was given France's highest state honour by Fillon in 2011.

The Canard Enchaine also said investigators were also looking into a consultancy firm called 2F Conseil that Fillon set up in 2012 after he left office as prime minister, which the paper says has paid him hundreds of thousands of euros.

Fillon has denied any wrongdoing with his consultancy work.

Once the frontrunner to become France's next president in May, he has had to battle to stay in the race because of revelations in January by the Canard Enchaine that he had paid his wife Penelope hundreds of thousands of euros from public funds, allegedly for fake jobs.

The 63-year-old former prime minister faces embezzlement charges later this month.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also