PARIS - Anti corruption magistrates dealt new blows to President Jacques Chirac's Gaullist RPR yesterday, placing the party's personnel chief and the Paris mayor's wife under investigation in separate sleaze probes.
In a third case, three ex budget ministers - Socialists Mr Henri Emmanuelli and Mr Michel Charasse, and the RPR's Mr Nicolas Sarkozy - were called before a Paris judge in an inquiry on alleged tax breaks linked to funding of political parties.