The former Les Républicains candidate for the presidential election was heard by a commission of inquiry devoted to “interference” by foreign powers.
François Fillon has, he says, had nothing to do with any interference whatsoever during his career. “I was not directly affected by Russian interference” and my “professional career” in private “just look at me”, affirmed the former Prime Minister, questioned Tuesday, May 2 in the Assembly on his past presence within the boards of directors of Russian companies. François Fillon was heard by a commission of inquiry initiated by the National Rally (RN) and devoted to “political, economic and financial interference by foreign powers”.
In the introduction, the former right-wing presidential candidate first mentioned his “36 years of public life”as deputy, minister or head of government from 2007 to 2012. “Foreign interference, yes, I have encountered it, most of the time, it came from a friendly and allied country called the United States.
“I was listened to with President Sarkozy for five years by the NSA, the American National Security Agency.”
Francois Fillonto the National Assembly
François Fillon also mentioned “Chinese espionage” or any “interference from countries like Turkey, Morocco, Algeria which directly give voting instructions at the time of the French elections through the intermediary of religious leaders”he said again.
A retraining assumed with Russian companies
Questioned by the commission, the former Prime Minister then mentioned his retraining in the private sector and his presence for a time on the board of directors of the Russian companies Sibur (petrochemicals) and Zarubezhneft (hydrocarbons), before he resigned after the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army.
“In 2017, in the circumstances that everyone knows, I left public life and definitively; I started a professional career, which concerns only me, I am not accountable to anyone, in the natural respect for the laws of the Republic”he pointed out about his consulting activities. “There is absolutely no friction between Zarubezhneft and France, (it is) a company that does not intervene in France”, but “mainly in Asia”, he stressed. He had resigned from these positions the day after the outbreak of the conflict.