Magistrates question Chirac's daughter

Investigating magistrates closed in on French President Jacques Chirac yesterday when they questioned his 38-year-old daughter and personal adviser, Ms Claude Chirac, in connection with a cash-for-air-fares scandal.

It was the first time that an immediate member of a serving French president's family has been summoned by judges.

The first lady, Mrs Bernadette Chirac, and the President's former travel agent and driver are expected to be summoned next.

Four of Mr Chirac's closest aides were questioned on Tuesday, when they claimed that up to half of the £291,597 in cash air fares had nothing to do with Mr Chirac.

Mr Chirac's lawyer and the spokesman for his Gaullist RPR party, Mr Patrick Devedjian, says paying cash for air tickets is not a crime, and insists there is no evidence to link the purchases to kickbacks at city hall while Mr Chirac was mayor of Paris between 1977 and 1995.

Ms Chirac spent 90 minutes with judges Armand Riberolles, Marc Brisset-Foucault and Renaud Van Ruymbeke, who were particularly interested in her July 1993 trip to New York - via Concorde - with her father and a bodyguard, and a holiday in Kenya.

The New York trip cost £14,286, but Ms Chirac insisted it was professional. She said that contrary to evidence found by judges, she did not travel to Kenya.

The Paris prosecutor, Mr Jean-Pierre Dintilhac, defied an opinion by his superior, Mr Jean-Louis Nadal, when he reaffirmed his own opinion that the three magistrates can summon the President himself. Mr Chirac's supporters point out that Mr Dintilhac once served as chief of cabinet to a socialist minister.

The Elysee seized on the dispute between the judges to denounce "the precipitation and confusion" surrounding the investigation.

The presidential palace has reiterated that Mr Chirac will ignore any summons sent to him "which would be contrary to the principle of separation of powers and the continuity of the State".

The question of presidential immunity will probably be examined by the country's highest appeals court, the Cour de Cassation, in the autumn - an awkward prospect for Mr Chirac, who will be in the midst of a campaign for re-election.