THE Socialist Party leader, Mr Lionel Jospin, has accused President Jacques Chirac of heading a system of "generalised corruption" during the 18 years he was mayor of Paris.
Mr Jospin said the government was trying to cover up a scandal over a system of kickbacks that benefited Mr Chirac's neo Gaullist party, the Rally for the Republic (RPR).
At an election meeting in Nantes on Thursday, Mr Jospin attacked Mr Chirac, the Prime Minister, Mr Alain Juppe, and the Justice Minister, Mr Jacques Toubon, without naming them.
"One is entitled to be concerned when one sees this political team in charge of France, when one discovers day after day, and in spite of cover up attempts, what this political team did for years in charge of the city of Paris," Mr Jospin said.
He listed "generalised corruption, kickbacks on public contracts, slush funds for the political parties, sinecures for elected representatives and their families, favours".
Mr Jospin asked: "Who was the mayor during this period, who was deputy mayor in charge of finance, who . . . was secretary general of the RPR?" and called on the government to stop obstructing the course of justice.
The affair of illegal financing, of the RPR has been simmering since last year and came to the boil this week after allegations that Mr Jean Tiberi, who succeeded the RPR founder, Mr Chirac, as mayor a year ago, had helped to run a system of kickbacks for the party and had spent 1.5 million francs ($300,000) to refurbish a city owned flat before his son Dominique moved in.
The allegations were made to Judge Eric Halphen, who is investigating commissions paid by firms that were awarded maintenance contracts by the city's public housing office.
Mr Francois Ciolina, former assistant director general of the office, who has been indicted for influence peddling in the case, told Judge Halphen that it was "public knowledge" that commissions were paid to the RPR by firms benefiting from city contracts.
This is the second time the housing arrangements of the Tiberi family have come under scrutiny. Soon after he became mayor of Paris last year, he was forced to acknowledge that his son and daughter were both housed in flats belonging to the city council at subsidised rates, even though they had flats of their own. They eventually agreed to move out.
By then, however, the focus of the scandal had switched to allegations that the newly appointed Prime Minister, Mr Juppe, had settled himself, his adult son and ex wife, in similarly cheap ad well appointed council accommodation, even negotiating his own rent, while a Paris council official. Mr Juppe was able to save his job only by moving.
The "council flats" in question are nothing like the subsidised housing let to families on low incomes in unfashionable parts of the city. They are large and beautifully maintained apartments, often in historic buildings in the most sought after areas, which the council lets on special terms to people of its own choosing.
The new allegations against Mr Tiberi come at a time when the city administration finds itself under attack on several fronts, from failing to act to combat the high pollution levels of last summer to "fixing" council tenders in favour of firms that would make contributions to the RPR party and maintaining fictitious secretarial posts also for the benefit of the RPR.
The swirling allegations are seen by some observers and opposition politicians as signs that the system put in place by Mr Chirac during his 20 year tenure as mayor of Paris, and by Mr Tiberi as his faithful deputy, is finally starting to crack.