JACQUES CHIRAC may become the first former French head of state to be prosecuted on corruption charges, after he was ordered to stand trial over accusations he rewarded cronies with contracts for non-existent jobs while mayor of Paris.
Investigating magistrate Xavière Simeoni ruled yesterday that the evidence against the former president was strong enough to bring a trial on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust.
Mr Chirac was mayor of the French capital between 1977 and 1995 before being elected to the Élysée for 12 years. He is accused of having used his position as mayor to award 21 “ghost” contracts to his political aides and paying them from the city payroll.
If tried and convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of €150,000.
Upon hearing news of Ms Simeoni’s recommendation, Mr Chirac declared himself to be “serene” and determined to prove that the allegations were false. The Paris public prosecutor, who had previously said the charges should be thrown out, has four days to appeal against the decision.
Protected throughout his two terms as president by constitutional immunity, the 76-year-old political grandee’s name has been mentioned in several alleged corruption controversies since he was succeeded by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007. The “sham jobs” affair, as the local media have dubbed it, is the first to have led to the prospect of him standing trial.
Some of his allies on the right denounced the ruling as “scandalous”; others applauded it as a breakthrough for judicial independence.
“[I feel] satisfaction that the law . . . is doing its job regardless of the people involved,” said André Vallini, a Socialist MP. “[But] Jacques Chirac is now an elderly man, retired from political life, and very popular to boot.”
Questioned about the affair at a press conference in Brussels, Mr Sarkozy said his position as presidential successor meant he was “unable to make any comment” other than praising the judiciary’s independence.
Critics pointed out that the decision to order a trial had been made by an investigating magistrate – a position Mr Sarkozy would like to abolish.
The charges against Mr Chirac and nine others, including Charles de Gaulle’s grandson, Jean, and two of the former president’s chiefs of staff, were first brought in November 2007. They stem from 35 allegedly fictitious contracts awarded while, and just after, Mr Chirac was Paris mayor.
After trawling through 481 supposedly fake deals, Ms Simeoni decided that only 21 of them, worth millions of euro, were for employment either non-existent or unrelated to municipal activities. The judge dropped other charges of forging government documents.
If the prosecutor's appeal fails and Ms Simeoni gets her way, it will be a spectacular fall from grace for a man who has succeeded in transforming his public image from that of cynical political manipulator to the nation's genial grandfather.– ( Guardianservice)