French police have detained far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen's bodyguard and chief of staff for questioning over alleged misuse of European Union funds to pay parliamentary assistants, Le Pen's lawyer says.
Le Pen denounced the latest move in a financial sleaze case that has landed her in the spotlight alongside another leading candidate, Francois Fillon, a right-winger being investigated over public funds he paid to his wife and children.
Wary that her image and lead position in polls of voting intentions could be hurt, Le Pen on Wednesday said she was convinced voters would not fall for what her lawyer Marcel Ceccaldi called a "manipulation" designed to destabilise her.
"The French can tell the difference between genuine scandals and political dirty-tricks," Le Pen, who has previously denied any wrongdoing in the affair, told reporters.
The two held for questioning are Le Pen's bodyguard, Thierry Legier, and her chief of staff, Catherine Griset, key figures in an investigation opened following demands by the European Parliament that Le Pen repay money she is accused of wrongly paying the two.
Le Pen is consistently tipped in opinion polls to win the April 23 first round of the two-round race but she is also tipped to lose the two-way runoff ballot on May 7 - to either Fillon or another independent candidate, the centrist Emmanuel Macron.
Wednesday's detentions followed a police raid on Monday on Le Pen's National Front party headquarters on the western edge of Paris, while she was abroad.
Fillon's poll ratings fell after the scandal concerning him surfaced in late January but they have since steadied and he is more or less neck-to-neck with Macron for the other slot in the May 7 duel.
