Posted on 09/21/2010 10:21:30 AM PDT by BradtotheBone
The 77-year-old, whose presidency of France ran from 1995 until 2007, could face a ten-year prison sentence and 150,000-euro (£130,000) fine if found guilty. He will be the first modern French leader to face a corruption trial.
Mr Chirac faces charges of abuse of public funds while he was mayor of Paris. It is alleged that he paid 21 allies for doing non-existent jobs as part of his drive for power in the 1990s. Last month, the Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, agreed to drop the town hall's civil lawsuit against Mr Chirac in exchange for 2.2 million euros – the amount of taxpayer's money it claimed was misused.
The ruling conservative UMP party agreed to foot two thirds of the bill while Mr Chirac will have to come up with the remaining 550,000 euros (£465,000) he allegedly misused between 1992 and 1995. Those were the last three years of his 18-year term as Paris mayor.
Despite the deal, the criminal lawsuit still stands, confirmed Jean Veil, Mr Chirac's lawyer, yesterday.
"Jacques Chirac will go before his judges; he has said so and nothing will change the situation," he told Europe 1 radio.
"We have resolved the civil problems [and] there remains the trial which will take place in November, or more likely in January or February 2011." The deal between the town hall and the UMP did not amount to admission of guilt, he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Zoot alors!
I bet he misses his old pal.
Good. Chirac was the kind of guy who would sell Sadam Hussein a nuclear reactor so he could pocket some of the profits.
Le Rasoir Républicain, the good old days.
“It is alleged that he paid 21 allies for doing non-existent jobs as part of his drive for power in the 1990s.”
Gosh, I wish we could prosecute pols for that here. There’d be no one left in office. D or R.
Gallic ping.
I liked that picture of Chirac with the Dixie Chicks that someone posted years ago. Funny!
“he paid 21 allies for doing non-existent jobs”
Wait! You mean that’s illegal? Seems like this would perfectly describe Obama’s WH czars. Do they do any work? I know we taxpayers pay them handsomely. Even the president’s “go-fer” Reggie Love gets paid in excess of $100K a year.
Is that like granting $800,000 to teach Africans how to properly wash their genitals so they "don't catch AIDS"?
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