Jacques Chirac, the former French president, has been ordered to stand trial on embezzlement charges over accusations he rewarded cronies with payments for non-existent jobs while mayor of Paris.
If the case goes ahead it will make Chirac the first holder of France's highest office to face a corruption trial.The Paris public prosecutor has previously said the charges should be thrown out and is expected to appeal against the ruling by an investigating magistrate, Xavière Simeoni, that the evidence against Chirac warrants a trial.
Chirac was mayor of the French capital between 1977 and 1995 before being elected to the Elyseé for 12 years. He is accused of having used his position as mayor to award 21 "ghost" contracts to his political aides and paying them from the city payroll.
Upon hearing news of Simeoni's recommendation, Chirac declared himself to be "serene" and "determined to prove" that the allegations are false.
Protected throughout his two terms as president by constitutional immunity, the 76-year-old political grandee's name has been mentioned in several alleged corruption controversies since
he was succeeded by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007.
The "sham jobs" affair, as the local media have dubbed it, is the first to have led to the prospect of him standing trial. The charges were first made in November 2007 and stem from 35 allegedly fictitious contracts awarded while and just after he was Paris mayor.
If the case goes ahead it will make Chirac the first holder of France's highest office to face a corruption trial.The Paris public prosecutor has previously said the charges should be thrown out and is expected to appeal against the ruling by an investigating magistrate, Xavière Simeoni, that the evidence against Chirac warrants a trial.
Chirac was mayor of the French capital between 1977 and 1995 before being elected to the Elyseé for 12 years. He is accused of having used his position as mayor to award 21 "ghost" contracts to his political aides and paying them from the city payroll.
Upon hearing news of Simeoni's recommendation, Chirac declared himself to be "serene" and "determined to prove" that the allegations are false.
Protected throughout his two terms as president by constitutional immunity, the 76-year-old political grandee's name has been mentioned in several alleged corruption controversies since
he was succeeded by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007.The "sham jobs" affair, as the local media have dubbed it, is the first to have led to the prospect of him standing trial. The charges were first made in November 2007 and stem from 35 allegedly fictitious contracts awarded while and just after he was Paris mayor.
