French presidential hopeful Francois Fillon has vowed to fight to the end in the face of allegations his wife was paid for fictitious jobs, saying there are "forces at work to silence me". "It is a terrible plot, but I am sure that the justice system will not allow itself to be exploited by these defamatory allegations," added Fillon. French authorities this week opened a preliminary inquiry into the allegations, which were first made by satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine, and are also looking into payments Penelope Fillon received from a magazine owned by a friend of Fillon. The newspaper alleged that Penelope received the money between 1998 and 2012. It also said that in 2012 and 2013, Penelope Fillon was paid 5,000 euros a month at La Revue des Deux Mondes magazine, owned by a friend of Francois Fillon.

Source: The Local January 29, 2017 07:35 UTC