French judge questioning Chirac in corruption probe

PARIS – A French judge was questioning former President Jacques Chirac yesterday in an investigation into a party financing scandal dating to his time as Paris mayor, judicial officials said.

Chirac was being questioned as a material witness in his Paris offices, in the presence of his lawyer, by Judge Alain Philibeaux, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. The questioning started at 07h15 and was continuing at midday.The probe concerns a fake jobs scheme used to finance Chirac’s conservative party RPR (Rally for the Republic) while he was mayor of Paris, from 1977-1995.He was president from 1995 until May 16, when he turned over power to fellow conservative Nicolas Sarkozy.The jobs scandal is the most potent of a string of potential legal problems the 74-year-old Chirac faces now that he no longer has presidential immunity.Yesterday’s interview was the first time in modern France that a former head of state had been questioned under such conditions.It remains unclear whether Chirac will ever be tried in this or other legal cases, but they loom as a humiliating coda to his four-decade political career.Investigators say operatives from the RPR party were illegally on the Paris city payroll in a scheme to help finance the party, and that the equivalent of millions of euros (dollars) in salaries and fees were doled out.The RPR was later replaced by the UMP, or Union for a Popular Movement, which now dominates parliament and Sarkozy’s government.The jobs case has already targeted several former colleagues of Chirac’s, but investigators have been waiting for years to talk to Chirac himself about how much he knew about the wrongdoing.Philibeaux’s investigation turned up a 1993 letter in which Chirac requested a raise for a secretary who was paid by City Hall – but who actually worked at party headquarters.Former Prime Minister Alain Juppe, a close Chirac ally, was convicted in the case in 2004 and given a 14-month suspended prison sentence and a yearlong ban from politics.Under French law, a material witness falls between a simple witness and a suspect.Nampa-APThe questioning started at 07h15 and was continuing at midday.The probe concerns a fake jobs scheme used to finance Chirac’s conservative party RPR (Rally for the Republic) while he was mayor of Paris, from 1977-1995.He was president from 1995 until May 16, when he turned over power to fellow conservative Nicolas Sarkozy.The jobs scandal is the most potent of a string of potential legal problems the 74-year-old Chirac faces now that he no longer has presidential immunity.Yesterday’s interview was the first time in modern France that a former head of state had been questioned under such conditions.It remains unclear whether Chirac will ever be tried in this or other legal cases, but they loom as a humiliating coda to his four-decade political career.Investigators say operatives from the RPR party were illegally on the Paris city payroll in a scheme to help finance the party, and that the equivalent of millions of euros (dollars) in salaries and fees were doled out.The RPR was later replaced by the UMP, or Union for a Popular Movement, which now dominates parliament and Sarkozy’s government.The jobs case has already targeted several former colleagues of Chirac’s, but investigators have been waiting for years to talk to Chirac himself about how much he knew about the wrongdoing.Philibeaux’s investigation turned up a 1993 letter in which Chirac requested a raise for a secretary who was paid by City Hall – but who actually worked at party headquarters.Former Prime Minister Alain Juppe, a close Chirac ally, was convicted in the case in 2004 and given a 14-month suspended prison sentence and a yearlong ban from politics.Under French law, a material witness falls between a simple witness and a suspect.Nampa-AP