Ah yes - spoken like a true Pagan Marxist.
Green on the outside, Red on the inside.
Posted on 05/16/2007 4:34:59 AM PDT by Cincinna
CITIZEN CHIRAC BEGINS NEW LIFE UNDER CORRUPTION CLOUD
PARIS, May 16, 2007 (AFP) - Jacques Chirac, who began a new life Wednesday after stepping down as France's president, plans to devote himself to fighting global warming and poverty -- unless allegations of corruption come back to haunt him.
Following a symbolic handover ceremony in which Chirac passed on France's nuclear codes to his successor Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of 12 years was driven from the Elysee palace for the last time.
As a private citizen, Chirac confirmed in a farewell speech on Tuesday that he plans to set up a foundation devoted to causes close to his heart: protecting the environment and "dialogue between cultures".
Modelled after those set up by Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela, Chirac's new foundation is to be launched in the fall, with former International Monetary Fund head Michel Camdessus at the controls.
But Chirac's immediate concern may be the prospect of being hauled in for questioning by a judge investigating allegations of illegal party-funding during his 18-year stint as mayor of Paris.
Under French law, Chirac's presidential immunity expires on June 16, a month after he leaves office.
A justice official has told AFP it is "most probable" that Chirac will be questioned as a witness in the probe into a kickback scheme in which workers for Chirac's former party, the Rally for the Republic (RPR), had salaries paid for by Paris city hall or companies that won contracts there.
The so-called "fake jobs" scandal led in 2003 to a series of prosecutions of senior RPR members, including Chirac's close ally Alain Juppe who received a suspended jail term in 2004 and a year-long ban on public office.
On Tuesday, Juppe -- who is tipped to head a new super-ministry of the environment, energy and transport in Sarkozy's right-wing government -- was questioned by judges in a connected investigation.
Sarkozy -- whose presidential bid was endorsed by Chirac -- last month angrily denied a report by the Canard Enchaine satirical weekly that the new president had struck a deal to shield Chirac from the corruption probe.
Rather than a specific amnesty for corruption, Sarkozy would introduce a provision as part of a new crime-fighting bill that would set a 10-year limit on the time a judge has to close a case, the weekly said.
That measure to be submitted to parliament in the fall would close the book on three corruption cases that date back more than 10 years, when Chirac was mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995, according to the Canard Enchaine.
Chirac's office also denied the allegations as "scandalous".
As former head of state, Chirac automatically becomes a member of the Constitutional Council, France's highest constitutional authority, alongside Valery Giscard d'Estaing and nine other appointed members.
He will also be given an office and, according to the weekly L'Express, receive a pension totalling some 19,000 euros (26,000 dollars) per month.
On leaving the Elysee, Chirac and his wife Bernadette were taken to their new temporary home in an apartment on the river Seine overlooking the Louvre museum.
The Chiracs' apartment was loaned to them by the family of assassinated former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, who was a close friend of the Chiracs. They are expected to stay there until they find a place of their own.
This is a man who hasn’t owned a home of his own in more than 30 years.
Living in “public housing” like Paris’ Hotel de Ville as Mayor of Paris, then at the Elysees Palace.
Au revoir, citoyen Chirac. No more palaces for you.
He has the Bubba syndrome, we will hear from him again.
Much like Carter and clinton, he just cant go away.
Ah yes - spoken like a true Pagan Marxist.
Green on the outside, Red on the inside.
LOL! He's gonna become a climate grifter!
As for the other, he's been fighting poverty all his life - his own poverty, that is. ;-)
There's something unnatural that drives these high-profile men with overflowing ego and flexible consciences. They seem to be imbued with the same flim-flamish trait that impels them to forever fleece idolizing suckers who continue to give them money for their front "foundations" long after the perps have departed from elected office.
Klinton has never given up the idea of once again becoming president of these United States. If Hillary is elected, he will. A sham loveless marriage is a small price to pay.
Chirac will continue on as president of France with his "foundation" as a political soap box and as a well-funded base of worldwide crooked business operations.
I wouldn't put it past all three of them if Chirac, Hillary and Bubba hook up at some point for a shady international menage a troix.
Leni
It was a very big deal at the time. Chirac funneled money away from schools and hospitals to line the pockets of the RPR. It was only when he was elected Prez that that investigation of him stopped.
Some people have long memories...
Protection ends June 16th?!?!?!? That gives him a month to move to Iran.
I think it would be more appropriate if he goes quietly to a prison cell from which he is never released.
Into the sunset, kind of like his soulmate Jimmy Carter. I like his bon ami Alain. A one year suspended sentence? Reminds me of Sandy Burglar.
“plans to devote himself to fighting global warming and poverty”
so, is he for or against poverty? Because the bogus steps to fight what is clearly just natural climate change will impoverish us. Chirac belongs in prison, and should go there ASAP.
“Sarkozy’s right-wing government”
just hitting the talking point again.
Actually, I would like SARKO to investigate and put this crook behind bars. The socialist pacifists,(relatives of the American Dem Party) in France have ruined France’s reputation long enough. Perhaps a trial would show just how corrupt and incompetent these socialist are. That is why people still want Berger and the Clintons investigated. The Dems have been failures but have used their media allies and public greed to flail against democratic capitalistic free enterprise for decades.
Let's hope they do. The last thing the world--and especially its poor--need is interference from this meddlesome clown.
About the only thing this buffoon is qualified for is maybe a slapstick routine with his U.S. counterpart, Jimmy Carter--maybe a Hee Haw revival.
Chirac is from France's conservative party (same party as Sarko) not the Socialists. Yeah, believe it or not that's what passes for a conservative in France.
It seems 'ol Jacques, get's the same deal, the Klintoons' got from GW. :(
It seems 'ol Jacques, get's the same deal, the Klintoons' got from GW. :(
Who would care?
Maybe the victims if his corruption?
The thousands, millions? of the "oil for food" scandal?
Would they care??????
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