‘Fake jobs’: French ex-PM Fillon and his wife guilty

French ex-Prime Minister François Fillon and his Welsh wife Penelope have been jailed over a “fake jobs” scandal.

He was sentenced to five years in jail, three of them suspended, while she got three years’ jail suspended.

Each was also fined €375,000 (£343,000; $423,000).

He was found to have paid his wife €831,400. The scandal torpedoed Fillon’s 2017 bid to become president. The centre-right candidate’s ratings plunged when the allegations surfaced.

“The payment was disproportionate to the work done,” the chief judge said. “Mrs Fillon was hired for a position that was without use.”

She was also found guilty of complicity to embezzle and conceal public funds.BBC