Corruption

Sleaze accusations return to haunt French election campaign

The latest surprise in France's presidential election campaign - allegations that the spouse of frontrunner Francois Fillon was paid well for work she did not do - is in a sense all too familiar.

Accusations of financial impropriety have a long history in France, where both the president and prime minister who ruled in the mid-1990s, Jacques Chirac and Alain Juppe, were found guilty of misusing public funds.

They were convicted, Juppe in 2004 and Chirac in 2011 after retiring, of misusing public money to keep political allies on the payroll of Paris City Hall for jobs they did not do.