The number one of the PCF is accused of having been paid between 2009 and 2014 as an assistant to a deputy, without having actually worked for Parliament.
On radio J, he said he was "confident that the reality of my work with MP Jean-Jacques Candelier will be recognized, because the work I did was important work".
"I knew very well that by presenting myself in this presidential election, by arousing a certain sympathy and even a dynamic around the campaign that I am carrying, a game of clay pigeon shooting would be opened. The blows fall, I expected it, I prepared myself", insisted Mr. Roussel who had a great breakthrough in the polls, going from 2% to almost 5% in some surveys.
After the accusations from the online media Mediapart initially published on February 20, the PNF confirmed to AFP on Friday that it had opened this investigation into the heads of "embezzlement of public funds and concealment of this offense".
"I learned from the press that I will be heard, indicated Mr. Roussel on Sunday. For the moment, I have not received anything, but of course, I will respond to all the summonses that I receive."
Asked whether the Insoumis candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon was behind these accusations, the deputy from the North replied: "I have absolutely no idea", but "what I do know is that Edwy Plenel (director of the publication of Mediapart) called for a vote for Mélenchon" and "that it was the director of the newspaper who carried out this investigation on my back".
Mr. Roussel also vigorously disputed the parallel with the Penelope Fillon affair which dynamited the 2017 campaign. "Are you kidding or what? François Fillon, it's personal enrichment, he hired his wife whom he paid 5,000 euros, it has nothing to do with me, anyway", he declared, inviting the French to "look at the heritage of candidates for the election" and see "who gets rich by doing politics".
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