French Communist Party presidential candidate Fabien Roussel fought back on Monday after allegations he was paid in public funds for five years for a fictitious job.
Investigative news site Mediapart on Sunday cast doubt on the veracity of Roussel's employment as a parliamentary assistant from 2009 and 2014, saying the Communist former journalist didn't work out of National Assembly lawmaker Jean-Jacques Candelier's constituency office in northern France and citing associates of the deputy who couldn't describe any work Roussel had carried out in the role.
