JACQUES CHIRAC became France’s first post-war leader to be convicted when a judge yesterday found him guilty of misusing public funds.
The former president was given a two-year suspended sentence for diverting about €1.4 million in public money from Paris city hall for political purposes while he was mayor of the capital between 1977 and 1995.
Chirac (79) was not in court to hear the surprise verdict, but his daughter said afterwards it brought “great sorrow” on the family.
The long-running case finally went to trial earlier this year after 13 years of legal dispute over allegations that 28 of Chirac’s allies were on the Paris payroll from 1992 to 1995 but did not work for the city.
Chirac benefited from immunity from prosecution during his 12 years as president, and few believed he would ever be tried. His family says his health has been deteriorating since he stepped down in 2007, and he was excused from attending the trial after doctors’ reports said he had a neurological condition that affected his memory.
The chances of a conviction seemed to recede earlier this year when Paris city hall pulled out as a plaintiff after Chirac and his UMP party – now led by President Nicolas Sarkozy – agreed between them to pay compensation worth €2.2 million to the city. The public prosecution service, which answers to the justice ministry, then recommended an acquittal.
However, Judge Dominique Pauthe did not follow that advice, making Chirac the first French former head of state to be convicted since Marshal Philippe Pétain, the head of the wartime Vichy regime, was found guilty of collaborating with the Nazis.
Chirac said he would not appeal but insisted he was innocent of all the charges against him. His lawyer, Georges Kiejman, said that, while the verdict may have looked severe, the court had acted “with a large measure of moderation” and had highlighted Chirac’s personal qualities, the passage of time since the events in question and his work in reorganising how political parties are funded. The court could have given Chirac a maximum of 10 years in prison.
“What I hope is that this ruling doesn’t change in any way the deep affection the French legitimately feel for Jacques Chirac,” Mr Kjejman added.
Reacting to the verdict, the Socialist Party said it was important that “justice has been done” and called for presidential immunity to be dropped.
It was “a good sign for French democracy that an independent judiciary could pronounce a verdict on a former president of the republic”, a socialist spokesman said.
In a short statement, Mr Sarkozy said he “took note” of the verdict but that it would be inappropriate for him to comment. The outcome should not obscure Chirac’s services to France, he added.
Seven of nine other people tried along with Chirac were also found guilty, among them Jean de Gaulle, grandson of former president Charles de Gaulle, and Marc Blondel, a former trade union leader.
Chirac’s adopted daughter Anh Dao Traxel, who was close to tears after the verdict, said: “The justice system has been very severe, but this is a fair and independent justice system. For the family, it’s a great sorrow we have to accept.”
Anti-corruption association Anticor welcomed the verdict, saying it was an “exemplary sanction” against the former president.
Public sympathy for one of best-liked figures
NOW THAT he has become the first postwar French leader to be convicted, has Jacques Chirac’s place in French hearts – and history – been irretrievably damaged? Not necessarily.
In some countries a corruption conviction means political death, but the French public can be forgiving – particularly if the politician in question hasn’t gained personally from the misuse of money. Alain Juppé, Chirac’s former right-hand man, was found guilty of corruption in 2004 in relation to the same fake jobs scheme as Chirac. He was given an 18-month suspended sentence and a temporary ban from politics. Political exile followed.
Earlier this year, however, Juppé completed a remarkable comeback when President Nicolas Sarkozy appointed him foreign minister with hardly a murmur of dissent. He has become the third most powerful man in France, and is considered a possible prime minister should Mr Sarkozy win next year’s presidential election.
There’s also the fact that Chirac has become more popular in retirement than he ever was as president. His calm, consensual public persona – synonymous with drift and statis during his late presidency – is now fondly remembered when contrasted with the divisive, aggressive rule of his successor at the Élysée. So too his principled stance against the invasion of Iraq in 2003. His memoirs have been bestsellers and polls show he is now one of the country’s best-liked public figures.
Chirac was always seen by many in France as a lovable rogue; now, opinion polls suggest, people see him as a reassuring father figure as well. Even many of his political opponents, sensing the public mood of sympathy towards a man who is nearly 80, called for the trial to be halted.
'Fake jobs' scandal - more than €1 million used to pay party workers
THE “FAKE jobs” scandal centred on 21 non-existent posts created at Paris city hall in the early 1990s during Jacques Chirac’s time as mayor.
Investigators claimed more than €1 million in salaries and fees were misappropriated from the city payroll to pay people working full-time for Chirac’s political party, the RPR, in the build-up to his successful election campaign for the French presidency in 1995.
The case was broken into two parts: the first count involved embezzlement and breach of trust in relation to the 21 bogus jobs; the second related to a conflict of interest concerning seven jobs. He was found guilty of both.
Several individuals, including current foreign minister Alain Juppé, were convicted separately in connection with the case.
Under a late deal apparently aimed at avoiding a trial, Chirac and the ruling UMP party – successor to the RPR – this year agreed to pay compensation of €2.2 million to city hall, of which Chirac would pay 25 per cent and the party the rest. That sum was the total of the bogus salaries, interest and legal fees.