Chinese Pinyin - Chirac questioned in corruption probe

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Chirac questioned in corruption probe

Updated: 2007-07-20 07:21




A French judge questioned former President Jacques Chirac for more than 4
hours yesterday in an investigation into a party financing scandal that
dates to his time as mayor of Paris, his lawyer said.

It was the first time a French president has undergone questioning under
such conditions, and marks a sobering point in Chirac's four-decade
political career.

The party financing investigation is the most potent of a string of
potential legal problems the 74-year-old Chirac faces now that he no
longer has presidential immunity. It remains unclear whether Chirac, who
turned over power to Nicolas Sarkozy in May, will ever be tried in this
or other legal cases implicating him.

Chirac was questioned as a material witness in his Paris offices by
investigating Judge Alain Philibeaux, said Chirac's lawyer Jean Veil, who
was also present. The questioning started at 9:15 am and ended at 1:30 pm.

"The former head of state explained himself very completely, very calmly,
in a climate of great courtesy and simplicity," Veil told reporters
outside Chirac's building afterward.

The judge has been waiting for years to talk to Chirac himself about how
much he knew about the financing scandal, which has already targeted
several former colleagues of Chirac's.

The investigation concerns a fake jobs scheme used to finance Chirac's
conservative party RPR while he was mayor of Paris, from 1977-95. He was
president from 1995 until May 16.

Investigators say RPR operatives were illegally on the Paris city payroll
in a scheme to help finance the party, and that the equivalent of
millions of euros (dollars) in salaries and fees were doled out.

The RPR, or Rally for the Republic, was later replaced by the UMP, or
Union for a Popular Movement, which now dominates parliament and
Sarkozy's government.

Philibeaux's investigation turned up a 1993 letter in which Chirac
requested a raise for a secretary who was paid by City Hall - but who
actually worked at party headquarters.

Former Prime Minister Alain Juppe, a close Chirac ally, was convicted in
the case in 2004 and given a 14-month suspended prison sentence and a
yearlong ban from politics.

Under French law, a material witness falls between a simple witness and a
suspect. The material witness is not formally under investigation and has
the right to a lawyer during questioning, but can later face charges if
investigating magistrates find "serious or concordant signs" of an
infraction or a crime.

Agencies


(China Daily 07/20/2007 page8)
















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