A French court has convicted former Prime Minister François Fillonon, for corruption charges on Monday and handed a five-year prison sentence and a €375,000 fine. Also, he will be barred from running in elections for 10 years.
The politician once considered the front-runner to win France’s 2017 presidential election was found guilty of paying his wife over €1 million in public funds for a “fake job”.
His wife Penelope received a three-year suspended sentence, a €375,000 fine and a two-year election ban.
Their lawyers said they’ll appeal the sentence.
Fillon had previously served as prime minister in Nicolas Sarkozy’s centre-right government between 2007 and 2012 insisted his wife earned the money honestly, saying “there is not the slightest doubt” about the nature of her wife’s collaboration.
During the trial, he also defended hiring his daughter Marie and son Charles as assistants from 2005 to 2007. The salaries received are estimated at over €117,000.
He was indicted in March 2017 for “embezzlement of public funds”, “concealment and complicity in the abuse of corporate property” and “breach in reporting obligations to the HATVP (France’s high authority for the transparency of civil servants).
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