Authorities have allowed employees to return to the headquarters of France's financial prosecution team. The office is currently undertaking investigations into French presidential candidates Fillon, le Pen and Macron.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/L. Bonaventure
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Paris police briefly ordered all employees in the national financial prosecutor's office (PNF) to leave the building after an anonymous caller phoned in a bomb threat on Monday.
Police were deployed to the building in the 9th arrondissement near the Garnier Paris opera house, where they proceeded to secure the surrounding area on the busy Rue des Italiens.
"The security forces have been ordered to search the building for explosives and it could take a large part of the day," a police source told Reuters. A bomb disposal sqad's review of the building and neighborhood revealed no trace of explosives.
According to police officials,fake bomb threats are a common occurrence in France's capital city.
The threat came at a time when Paris remains on edge after a gunman opened fire on police officers on Saturday at a traffic stop and at the city's Orly airport. In addition, a state of emergency originally implemented in the aftermath of the 2015 Paris terror attacks continues to blanket the entire nation.
A busy public financial prosecutor
The PNF has been in the spotlight recently due to the office's ongoing investigations into possible financial offenses committed by French Presidential candidates.
With the first round of voting set for April 23, any results released by the PNF could affect the candidates' chances to make it into the top two slots - and therefore into the final runoff on May 7.
cmb/rc (Reuters, AP)
What you need to know about Francois Fillon and "Penelopegate"
Francois Fillon is struggling to rebuild his presidential campaign after accusations that he hired family members in "fake jobs". But what exactly has Fillon been accused of - and how has he defended himself?
Image: picture-alliance/abaca/A. Robert
Frontrunner no more
Many expected Francois Fillon to be a shoo-in for the presidency. The former French prime minister easily won the conservative primary with 67 percent of the vote. But then Penelopegate hit. Weekly newspaper Canard Enchaine reported that Fillon's wife Penelope and two of his children had received close to one million euros in salaries from Fillon, paid by the state. Fillon's popularity tumbled.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Bureau
Working for her husband?
It is not illegal in France to hire family members as parliamentary assistants - provided they have real jobs. Fillon's wife was paid 830,000 euros ($900,000) as a parliamentary assistant for 15 years, working (or - as some have suggested - "working") for Fillon and his replacement in parliament. Police are currently investigating whether Penelope provided services for the salary she received.
Image: picture alliance/abaca/Y. Korbi
Keeping it in the family
Reporters also revealed that Fillon paid his two oldest children 84,000 euros for working as assistants between 2005 and 2007. Fillon argued that he had hired Marie and Charles Fillon for their legal expertise - though the two were still in law school when they had jobs with their father.
Image: Picture-Alliance/dpa/R. Jensen
More accusations
Penelope was also employed at an art magazine from May 2012 to December 2013, where she was paid roughly 5,000 euros a month. The owner of the magazine had previously been recommended for France's highest honor, the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, by then-prime minister Francois Fillon. Fillon has said that these two facts were unrelated.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Feferberg
A smear campaign?
Fillon has repeatedly denied charges that he used "fake jobs" to enrich his family. He has said that he employed his wife and children because he trusted them and accused the media of running a smear campaign against him. Nevertheless, Penelopegate has severely damaged the campaign of the 63-year old, who has sold himself to French voters as an honest family man keen on cutting public spending.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/P. Desmazes
Certainly not a first
The accusations against Fillon are hardly the first of their kind in France. Ex-President Jacques Chirac was found guilty in 2011 of employing party members in "fake jobs" as mayor of Paris. Former president Nicolas Sarkozy is being investigated for illegal campaign financing, and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is suspected of paying officials in her far-right party with EU funds.
