Nicolas Sarkozy denies President Chirac deal

PARIS – French right-wing presidential frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday denied a newspaper report that he had agreed to shield President Jacques Chirac from a corruption probe in exchange for his backing.

“It’s grotesque, it’s hurtful and it’s untrue,” Sarkozy said after Le Canard Enchaine satirical weekly published the report, quoting sources close to Chirac. “I deny it in the firmest and fullest terms,” said Sarkozy during a campaign swing through the Paris suburb of Villepinte.The weekly reported that “in exchange for Chirac’s support for his candidacy, Sarkozy made a commitment, if he wins, to avoid any judicial backlash for Chirac”.Chirac’s office also denied the report, with an official saying: “These allegations, which are absolutely baseless, do not warrant a response.”Rather than a specific amnesty for corruption, Sarkozy would introduce a provision as part of a new anti-crime bill that would set a 10-year limit on the time a judge has to close a case, the weekly said.That measure 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 Le Canard Enchaine.Two cases deal with the illegal use of Paris city funds to pay staff and sympathisers of Chirac’s Rally for the Republic (RPR) party, the predecessor of the governing Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).Nampa-AFP”I deny it in the firmest and fullest terms,” said Sarkozy during a campaign swing through the Paris suburb of Villepinte.The weekly reported that “in exchange for Chirac’s support for his candidacy, Sarkozy made a commitment, if he wins, to avoid any judicial backlash for Chirac”.Chirac’s office also denied the report, with an official saying: “These allegations, which are absolutely baseless, do not warrant a response.”Rather than a specific amnesty for corruption, Sarkozy would introduce a provision as part of a new anti-crime bill that would set a 10-year limit on the time a judge has to close a case, the weekly said.That measure 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 Le Canard Enchaine.Two cases deal with the illegal use of Paris city funds to pay staff and sympathisers of Chirac’s Rally for the Republic (RPR) party, the predecessor of the governing Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).Nampa-AFP