FORMER FRENCH president Jacques Chirac has been placed under formal investigation over allegations that he put seven political allies on the payroll of Paris city hall for fictitious jobs when he was mayor of the capital.
A magistrate informed Mr Chirac (77) of the judicial step – one short of pressing charges – at a meeting in Paris yesterday. It means investigators believe there is strong evidence but gives them more time to decide whether to bring a trial or drop the case.
The news came just two months after Mr Chirac was ordered to stand trial in a separate corruption case which was also linked to his time as mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.
The former president strongly denies any wrongdoing. A statement from his office yesterday said that in both cases, he wanted legal procedures to move ahead as quickly as possible “so that it can finally be shown that he can be faulted for nothing”.
The latest ruling, by Judge Jacques Gazeaux of the court of Nanterre, a Parisian suburb, concerns allegations that in the 1990s Mr Chirac put seven people linked to his Gaullist RPR party on the Paris city hall payroll for non-existent jobs. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to €75,000.
Mr Chirac’s office said yesterday that he already testified in this case in July 2007 – two months after he left office – and no new information had emerged since .
“President Chirac reiterates that there was no [fictitious jobs] ‘system’, at the Paris mayor’s office,” his office said.
“As with the other case, President Chirac hopes that the matter will be dealt with as quickly as possible so it can be finally shown that he can be faulted for nothing,” the statement added.
Investigations into numerous allegations of irregularities during his 18-year stint as Paris mayor were put on hold when he was president of France because, under the French constitution, he enjoyed immunity from prosecution.
However, magistrates have reopened old dossiers since Mr Chirac stood down as president.
In October a judge ordered that he stand trial on embezzlement and breach-of-trust charges over 21 fictitious jobs he is alleged to have created as favours to people who were politically useful to him.
That trial, which will be a first for a former leader of modern France, is expected to take place in the middle of next year.
The Nanterre case for which Mr Chirac is now being investigated has dogged him for years and has already led to the conviction of one of his political proteges, former prime minister Alain Juppé.
In 2003 Mr Juppé received a 14-month suspended sentence and a one-year ban from holding elected office over his role in the hiring of six people while serving as finance director at the Mairie de Paris under Mr Chirac.
Despite his humiliating legal problems, however, public affection for the former president has soared since his retirement in May 2007.
Since leaving the Elysée Palace after three decades in national public life, Mr Chirac has established a charitable foundation and last month published the first volume of his memoirs. Sales of the book have exceeded all expectations and huge crowds have turned out for a book-signing tour.
With his successor Nicolas Sarkozy registering some of the lowest satisfaction ratings of his presidency, a poll published in this week’s Paris Match magazine found that a record 78 per cent of people approve of Mr Chirac, making him the country’s most popular political figure.