Truemors
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
Former French President ordered to stand trial on Embezzlement
Share:
by albertacowpoke | October 30, 2009 at 03:52 am
251 views | 70 Recommendations | 15 comments
Photos
Corruption in politics is nothing new. It has occurred at the highest levels in government. Despite this, we seldom see officials prosecuted. This is about to change in France.
Former French President Jacques Chirac has been ordered to stand trial on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust. These allegations date back to his time as Mayor of Paris. A magistrate ordered Chirac to stand trial.
Magistrate Xaviere Simeoni, is investigating charges that friends of Chirac were given sham jobs and were on the payroll although they weren't working for it.
Chirac's office stated that Chirac was innocent and eager to prove it in court.
Former French president Jacques Chirac has been ordered to stand trial in an alleged corruption scandal dating back to his tenure as Paris mayor, a judicial official said Friday.
A magistrate has ordered Chirac to stand trial on charges of "embezzlement" and "breach of trust," the official said on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing.
The investigating magistrate, Xaviere Simeoni, has been probing whether people in Chirac's circle were given sham jobs as advisers and paid by Paris city hall, even though they weren't working for it.
Chirac's office said in a statement that he was "serene, and determined to prove in court that none of the jobs still being debated were fake." A prosecutor can still appeal the decision.
Suspicions of corruption and nepotism, mostly dating from his time as mayor, dogged Chirac's presidency. Chirac was mayor of Paris from 1977-95 and president of France from 1995 until May 16, 2007.
What is NowPublic?
NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.
Crowd Power
Elentir
Spain
Most Recommended Stories in World
Recommendations (70)
generaldecay
Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Amy Judd
Vancouver, Canada
Rhonda J Mangus
North Tonawanda, New York, United States
Paschen
Narita, Chiba, Japanmarianmo
Mission, Canada
Hugh Askew
Omaha, Nebraska, United StatesProfessor
Chorlton, United Kingdom
Barbara McPherson
Nanaimo, Canada
a211423
Clearlake, California, United States
MilanSturgis
Washington, District Of Columbia, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (15)
at 04:30 on October 30th, 2009
Hopefully if there has been a corruption it will be dealt with properly rather than the issue being merely hogwashed!
Go France Go!
at 04:41 on October 30th, 2009
I fully agree with you Ninja
at 04:43 on October 30th, 2009
Chirac being dragged through the mud as a commoner? That is, having to respond to the law just like anyone else?
Are they kidding? Don't they know who Jacque Chirac is? LOL.
at 04:46 on October 30th, 2009
Let.s just see what happens. It may demonstrate that no one is above the law.
at 04:58 on October 30th, 2009
Kickbacks on the mayoral level are a fact of life around the world. I could tell you years ago exactly what the percentage was for the mayor of Philly, from very "knowing" individuals.
When you have the Napoleonic magistrate system of Italy and France, magistrates double as prosecutors and judges.
For me, this causes problems, Prosecution, or the lack of it, usually, is too determined by political connections.
Of course, our system hasn't guaranteed anything.
I was watching the History Channel's show on motorcycle gangs, and this show was about the Pagans, a Philly-based organization.
One of the top guys of the Pagans didn't want to pay a "street tax" to the Mafia for selling crank and kidnapped a Mafia captain and threatened his life. The guy ran out of the care and down the street in midtown with cops in full view. The Pagan shot him and spent very little time in jail because, as he said, "we had all the cops on our payroll". I assume, not just the cops as well.
at 05:08 on October 30th, 2009
Your are probably right Roy, it is a sad state of affairs and not only in Philly.
at 05:10 on October 30th, 2009
good to see justice at work...i hope
at 07:38 on October 30th, 2009
There is an articles from "Paris Match"that suggest that current President Sarkozi is the one that set Chirac and former Prime Minister De Villepin up.
The trial may incriminate Sarkozi and clear Chirac and DeVillepin.
We shall see.
at 08:08 on October 30th, 2009
If Sarkozi is incriminated watch this disappear off the radar screen real quick.
at 07:51 on October 30th, 2009
wow, this is a development!
at 08:12 on October 30th, 2009
Oh, please, please, please, please, please, please let this be the end of him.
at 09:08 on October 30th, 2009
It's good to see that former heads of state are not above the law.
at 11:48 on October 30th, 2009
Chirac charged with corruption has to stand trial.Whatever may be outcome of trial,whether charges are proved or not is a seperate and altogether different question.But I salute Western democracies,without being their admirer,for one thing:supremacy of the law.
In South Asia corrupt politicians keep on replenishing their coffers even during their trial,cases linger on for decades and decades in lower courts,and at the end of the day rarely corrupt politician,government official is punished.
Western democracies and South Asian democracies are like twins seperated at birth.One healthy,the other deformed.
at 09:20 on October 30th, 2009
Thank you for your comments Barbara and Kidwai. They are greatly appreciated.
at 14:52 on October 30th, 2009
It just goes to show that ALL politicians, no matter from what country, are all basically crooked and can all be held accountable in one way or another. Even clear back to the days of JFK and Marilyn Monroe, we've had problems. Iran/Contra, Carter and Iran, Reagan/Bush, Bush, Clinton and his seed spraying Olympics, and Bush Jr and Iraq.
France is no different