Fillon claims graft charges are to derail his bid for presidency

Paris

FRANCOIS Fillon told voters his bid to be France's next president is the victim of a plot, as pollsters assess the damage from his deepening legal problems.

A day after being charged with embezzlement over his wife's allegedly fake job as a parliamentary aide, the 63-year-old former prime minister insisted on his innocence in a radio interview on Wednesday and argued that the courts are being used by his political opponents in the runup to the first round of voting on April 23.