1st ex-French president is found guilty of corruption

PARIS—Shamed former French leader Jacques Chirac was found guilty of corruption and given a suspended jail sentence on Thursday, becoming France’s first ex-president to be convicted for his crimes.

The 79-year-old statesman, who was excused from court on medical grounds, was found guilty of influence peddling, breach of trust and embezzlement between 1990 and 1995, when as mayor of Paris he employed ghost workers.

In their ruling, the judges said Chirac’s criminal conduct had cost Paris taxpayers the equivalent of 1.4 million euros ($1.8 million).

“Jacques Chirac breached the duty of trust that weighs on public officials charged with caring for public funds or property, in contempt of the general interest of Parisians,” the ruling said.

He is the first former or serving president of modern France to be tried, although Nazi-era collaborationist leader Philippe Petain was convicted of treason and King Louis XVI was sent to the guillotine by revolutionaries in 1793.

Chirac’s lawyer, Jean Veil, said the former leader had received the judgement “with serenity” and added: “He’s satisfied that at least the court has accepted that he did not personally profit from this.”

In a statement released later Thursday, Chirac said he would not appeal the court’s decision while adding: “I categorically contest this judgment.”

“I do not have anymore the necessary strength to bring myself, before new judges, to fight for the truth,” Chirac said in the statement.

‘Honest man’

“I am aware also that what is at stake is not only the honor of a man, but the dignity of the presidency…” he said, adding that he leaves it to the French people “who know who I am: an honest man” who worked only for “the grandeur of France and for peace.”

The verdict marked the end of a long legal drama. France’s current foreign minister, Alain Juppe, was convicted in the same case in 2004 but has since returned to public life and is an ally of Chirac’s successor Nicolas Sarkozy.

Thursday’s sentence was a surprise. Even state prosecutors had called for Chirac—who still polls as one of France’s most popular figures—to be cleared, and France has largely forgiven his long history of corruption.

“I hope this judgment won’t change the profound affection that the French people still rightly have for Jacques Chirac,” defense counsel Georges Kiejman said, adding that Chirac would decide later in the day whether to appeal.

‘Too, too harsh’

Chirac’s 54-year-old Vietnamese-born adopted daughter, Anh Dao Traxel, said the ruling had been “too, too harsh.”    “Justice has spoken, it must be respected but it’s unfortunately a great pain for our family and for Jacques Chirac,” she told reporters.

The opposition Socialist Party’s candidate for next year’s presidential race, Francois Hollande, said “justice has been done” but added that he “had a thought for a man who has more health problems.”

Members of Chirac’s right-wing UMP party expressed regret.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the case had taken too long to resolve, with the ruling falling two decades after the crimes.

“I don’t think this decision will alter the personal relationship that exists between Jacques Chirac and the French people,” he said.

Chirac was president of France between 1995 and 2007 and enjoyed legal immunity while in office. He denied all the charges, but the case is only one of many corruption scandals to have dogged him in a long public career.

Doctors say he has “severe and irreversible” neurological problems including memory loss and dementia linked to his advanced age.

While he still makes occasional public appearances as a respected center-right elder statesman, he was unable to attend the trial.

Fake jobs

He was tried alongside nine alleged accomplices. Two were cleared, but the rest were convicted of helping Chirac run a system at Paris city hall under which political allies were paid municipal salaries for fake jobs.

The city of Paris, which is now run by a Socialist mayor, dropped a case for damages over the case after Chirac and the UMP agreed to pay 2.2 million euros to cover the embezzled funds.

Chirac—who lives in a luxury Paris flat overlooking the Seine near the Eiffel Tower paid for by the family of the assassinated former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri—repaid 500,000 euros out of his own pocket.

He was convicted of hiring members of his political party, then known as the Rally for the Republic (RPR) for nonexistent municipal jobs, using the civic payroll to employ his own campaign staff.

In all, 19 fake jobs were created in Paris between 1990 and 1995, ahead of Chirac’s successful presidential bid. Veil said: “With 40,000 workers at city hall, it’s not that many at the end of the day.”

Protege

Several people were convicted in connection with the ghost worker case in 2004, including Juppe, who was found guilty of mishandling public funds but is now a key figure in Sarkozy’s government.

Juppe was given a 14-month suspended sentence and barred from public office for a year—before returning as mayor of Bordeaux and now foreign minister. He rejected the court’s request to appear as a witness in Chirac’s trial.

Sarkozy, a former Chirac protege, has been his political enemy since 1995, when as a young minister he supported a rival right-wing candidate, but the verdict will nevertheless embarrass many members of the UMP.

Juppe is seen as a key figure in Sarkozy’s reelection campaign and a possible future prime minister if the right returns to office after May’s presidential vote and legislative elections in June.