The wife of the former frontrunner in France’s presidential election has been held for questioning over a deepening payments scandal.
Francois Fillon’s wife, Penelope, had been summoned alongside her husband by magistrates investigating allegations the politician paid family members for fake parliamentary jobs.
Mr Fillon, who was leading polls until the scandal broke last month, abruptly postponed a high-profile event as investigations continued on Wednesday.
He faces a full judicial inquiry into the so-called “Penelopegate” affair but has backtracked from a previous pledge that he would stand down in the event of an official probe being launched.
Mr Fillon has denied wrongdoing, and says his wife was paid hundreds of thousands of euros for genuine work as his parliamentary assistant, though he has acknowledged giving her the work was an error of judgement.

source: bbc.com