French prosecutor asks magistrate to open probe on Fillon fake jobs allegations - report

PARIS (Reuters) - France's financial prosecutor has asked an investigative magistrate to open a probe into allegations that presidential candidate Francois Fillon's wife was paid large sums of money for work she may not have done, newspaper Le Parisien reported. The report from Le Parisien followed an earlier media report on the website of French TV station M6 that the prosecutor was likely to publish a statement on the matter later on Friday. The prosecutor had said earlier this month it was continuing its probe into the affair, which has seen Fillon lose ground in opinion polls. Fillon, the candidate of The Republicans' right-wing party, has denied any wrongdoing. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Michel Rose)