Former French prime minister Francois Fillon and wife found guilty over 'fake jobs' scandal

Court sentences Fillon to five years in jail and €375,000 fine

Former French Prime minister Francois Fillon and his wife Penelope Fillon arrive at the Paris' courthouse (AFP via Getty)

The former French prime minister Francois Fillon has been found guilty of embezzlement of public funds in a fake jobs scandal that wrecked his 2017 run for president and opened the Elysee Palace door for Emmanuel Macron.

The French court also convicted Fillon’s wife, Penelope, of complicity to embezzle and conceal public money.

Fillon, 65, and his wife Penelope, who is originally from Wales, had denied any wrongdoing.

The disgraced politician was sentenced to five years in jail, with three of them suspended, and fined €375,000 (£343,310) for the crime. He has also been barred from standing in any election for the next decade.

Penelope was handed a three-year suspended sentence and fined the same amount as her husband.

Judges sitting at the Paris Correctional Court ruled that the couple created fake jobs that paid Penelope hundreds of thousands of euros as his parliamentary assistant.

The chief judge read the court’s ruling, which determined that the “payment was disproportionate to the work done”. “Mrs Fillon was hired for a position that was without use,” it said.

Fillon had been the frontrunner in France’s election race when allegations of the payments came to light. He resisted party pressure to quit and was eliminated in the first round of the vote at the time.

He had been the country’s prime minister from 2007 to 2012.

Penelope’s role drew much attention during the trial this year, which focused on determining whether her activities were in the traditional role of an elected official’s partner, or if it involved any actual paid work.

During the trial, she explained that she decided to support Fillon’s career when he was first elected as a French lawmaker in 1981, in the rural town of Sable-sur-Sarthe.

France’s former Prime Minister Francois Fillon, left, and his wife Penelope, arrive at the Paris courthouse (AP)

She said she was offered different types of contracts as a parliamentary assistant, and described her work as mostly writing reports about local issues, opening the mail, meeting with residents and helping to prepare speeches for local events.

Her husband was the one who decided the details of her contracts, she added.

Prosecutors denounced “fraudulent, systematic practices”, pointing to the lack of actual evidence of her work, including the absence of declarations for any paid vacations or maternity leave, as her wages reached up to nine times France’s minimum salary.

Additional reporting by agencies