FRANCE: President Jacques Chirac suffered a severe setback yesterday when the head of his political party and chosen heir was convicted of corruption, writes Lara Marlowe in Paris
The former prime minister Mr Alain Juppé (58) was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence and declared ineligible for public office for 10 years. His lawyer announced that he would appeal.
Mr Juppé went pale and bent over slightly when he heard the verdict. He left the courtroom through a back door. His former chief aide, Mr Patrick Stefanini, said: "I imagine it's an annihilation for him."
Because sentences are not enforced pending appeal - expected to take six months to one year - Mr Juppé will for the time being retain his positions as president of Mr Chirac's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), mayor of Bordeaux and deputy in the National Assembly.
It was for his actions as secretary general of the RPR, the predecessor of the UMP, and head of finance at the city hall during Mr Chirac's tenure as mayor of Paris that Mr Juppé was convicted of "taking illegal benefits". Three magistrates decided he paid the salaries of seven RPR party workers from municipal coffers.
The great unanswered question is whether Mr Chirac knew of the practice. There is widespread speculation that Mr Juppé was covering for his mentor when he said earlier this month: "I was the boss, and it's the boss who pays."
Two former RPR treasurers, one of them a second World War hero and nine-times cabinet minister, and four other former RPR officials also received suspended prison sentences.
So did 14 of 20 businessmen who were tried for currying favour with the RPR by paying party employees' salaries.
Yesterday's verdict makes it extremely unlikely that Mr Juppé will return to government in a cabinet reshuffle after the March regional elections.
The appeal prolongs uncertainty about Mr Juppé's future, and the future of the French right. He founded the UMP to be "the President's party". The UMP's congress next November could turn into a free-for-all as rivals fight for his job.
Mr Juppé served as Mr Chirac's prime minister from 1995 until 1997, and the President hoped his most trusted follower would succeed him at the Élysée Palace.
Mr Juppé boasts diplomas from two of France's most prestigious institutions, the École Normale Supérieure and the ENA. Ten years ago Mr Chirac declared him "the best among us."
He was considered an excellent foreign minister in 1993-1995. But he then became one of the most unpopular French prime ministers of the 20th century.
Asked how he could not know that his own secretary at the RPR was paid by City Hall, he replied: "I am sometimes reproached for it, but I don't give much importance to personal relationships."