PARIS, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- French financial prosecutors Monday questioning presidential frontrunner Francois Fillon and his wife Penelope as part of an inquiry over allegations that she had been paid for fake jobs, according to local media report.

Fillon and his wife were hearing separately by investigators to determine whether Penelope has really worked as her husband's parliamentary assistant for the 1998-2002 period and after for Marc Joulaud.

Joulaud carried out Fillon's parliamentary tasks during the 2000-2007 period when Fillon took up a cabinet post under then president Jacques Chirac, BFMTV news channel reported.

Last week, French financial prosecutors had opened a preliminary inquiry into the possible "misuse of public funds" and "misappropriation of assets", after media reports claimed that Penelope had been paid hefty salaries for fictitious job.

The satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine had claimed that the British-born Fillon's wife had been paid 600,000 euros (641,100 U.S. dollars) for her job as a parliamentary assistant to her husband and for work at a cultural journal.

However, there was no evidence she had really worked, the report said.

Under French law, it's legal for lawmakers to hire family members as their assistants but it's illegal to pay them for a fictitious job.