'I blame the president': Fillon faults France's Hollande for scandal

French presidential candidate FranoisFillon accused President FranoisHollande on Thursday of being involved in what he alleges is a government plot to spread damaging media leaks about his financial affairs.

"You have newspapers today which receive documents 48 hours after they were seized in searches, for example in my office in the National Assembly. Who gives them these documents? The government," he said in a television interview.

Asked if politicians or the justice system gave approval for this, Fillon said: "I will go much further. I blame the president of the republic."

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Hollande "condemns with the greatest firmness the false allegations of Fillon,"the president's office said on Thursday.

Once the front-runnerin the French presidential election, Fillon has been mired in a scandal over public money he paid his wife to be his parliamentary assistant. He denies allegations she did little work for the money, but suffered a serious blow last week when he learned he could be placed under formal investigation for misuse of public funds.

He was given preliminary charges last week.