National Front leader Marine Le Pen refuses to cooperate with police over allegations that she made illegal payments to her staff, her attorney said Friday.
Le Pen is one of many politicians investigated for questionable payments to their staff in the European Union. She was summoned to questioning by police last Wednesday but didn’t show up.
Rodolphe Bosselut, Le Pen’s attorney, said she won’t comply with any summons until after the election in April. Le Pen denies any wrongdoing and says she’s part of “political dirty tricks.”
Le Pen’s chief of staff was placed under investigation Wednesday and her bodyguard has been questioned in the case.
A French magistrate announced Friday that conservative candidate Francois Fillon will face a full judicial inquiry over alleged payments to family members for non-existent jobs. The payments to his wife total more than $700,000.
“If I am attacked, so relentlessly attacked, it is because I clash with the spineless consensus that only likes the right when it walks in the shadows,” Fillon said at a rally Friday, The Guardian reports.
Fillon has dropped from first to third place in polls since the scandal was exposed in January. Le Pen appears to be less affected by her suspected impropriety as she remains in first place ahead of the first round of voting.
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