Chirac To Be Questioned On Corruption
PARIS — President Chirac will be called for questioning over allegations of corruption after mid-June, a month after he steps down as president on May 16, French justice officials confirmed for the first time yesterday.
Mr. Chirac, 74, who announced last Sunday his decision not to run for a third term after 12 years in office, will lose his presidential immunity when he leaves the Elysée palace. There had been speculation, however, that he would somehow avoid being brought to book over his alleged involvement in a string of corruption cases, mostly linked to illegal party funding, when he was mayor of Paris more than a decade ago.
Unnamed judicial sources said Mr. Chirac will be questioned over his involvement in a complex kickback scheme where members of his Gaullist RPR Party had salaries funded by Paris city hall or companies that won contracts there.
Mr. Chirac was mayor of Paris between 1977 and 1995. He has denounced as "lies, calumny, and manipulation" all allegations of wrongdoing.
The sources said it was "most probable" that the president would be questioned as an "assisted witness" rather than as an ordinary witness, meaning that there were suspicions weighing against him and that he would have the right to be accompanied by a lawyer.
It was unlikely that he would be placed directly under official investigation before speaking to judges.
The Elysée palace said that "since this information is unsourced, there is not call for a reaction." A spokesman for the Nanterre court, where the Chirac dossier lies dormant, said that "no act of procedure has yet been programmed concerning a dossier in which the name of the president is quoted." In other words, no summons documents have yet been drawn up.
The case in question, dubbed the "fake jobs" scandal, led in 2003 to the conviction of several senior RPR figures, including Mr. Chirac's former prime minister and lieutenant, Alain Juppe, who received a suspended jail term and a year-long ban on public office.
