Transition to consolidated procedures

French presidential candidate Francois Fillon received 50 thousand dollars for organizing a businessman's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is reported by RFI with reference to the French edition of Le Canard Enchaîné.

According to the newspaper, 2015, the consulting company 2F Conseil, owned by Fiion, organized a meeting with Putin and CEO of Total Patrick Puyanna for the Lebanese billionaire Foid Makhzumi. Both meetings took place during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June 2015. For this, Fionon used his ties established during his stay as prime minister.

Surrounded by Fiion, they said that 2f Conseil did not receive money from the Russian authorities or from Russian private companies. “Suspicions of a conflict of interests have no reason,” said the source of the publication. “Neither Francois Fillon nor 2f Conseil were associated with the possible consequences of these meetings.”

At the beginning of 2017, the publication Le Canard Enchaîné laid the foundation for the scandal around Fiion. It stated that the wife of Police Penelope Fiion for several years was listed as an assistant to her husband in the National Assembly of France. During this time, she was paid several hundred thousand euros. At the same time, the publication claimed that she did not fulfill any duties. The politician also organized payments to his children for work, which they actually did not do.

On February 25, the financial prosecutor's office of France began an investigation in the case of illegal payments to the wife of Fiion. On March 14, the candidate was charged with embezzlement and abuse .

Fiion himself assured on March 1 that he did not intend to leave the race , despite the initiation of the case. Meanwhile, two days later it became known that the chief of the election headquarters of the candidate Patrick Stefanini resigned , after Fiion rejected his recommendation to terminate the presidential campaign.

Then, on March 3, centrists from the Union of Democrats and Independent (UDI) refused to support the candidate of the Republican. UDI Vice President Jean-Marie Boker called on the mayor of Bordeaux Alena Juppe, who took second place in the primaries of the right, replace the Fiion.

Fiion, as well as Harvesty Marin Le Pen from the National Front, advocates lifting sanctions from Russia. For some time, both were considered the main favorites of the presidential race. However, in the last weeks of both the level of support, the centrist Emmanuel Macron went around; Le Pen follows him with a slight margin. Meanwhile, it was noted that Juppe, if it is nominated instead of Fiion, will bypass in the first round both Macron and Le Pen.