France ex-president Chirac ordered to face second corruption trial News
France ex-president Chirac ordered to face second corruption trial
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[JURIST] A French judge on Monday ordered former president Jacques Chirac [official profile; JURIST news archive] to stand trial on a second set of charges in connection with the funding of his political party during his time as mayor of Paris from 1977-1995. Chirac is accused of providing fictitious city jobs [Le Monde report, in French] for members of his Rally for the Republic (RPR), now renamed as the Union for a Popular Movement [party website, in French]. He is already facing a trial in March in a related case in which he is charged with embezzlement and breach of trust. Chirac, at 77 years old, will be the first French president [Bloomberg report] to stand trial.

In September, Chirac agreed to pay the city of Paris [JURIST report] USD $741,000 in compensation for money he allegedly paid to supporters for whom he created false jobs in exchange for the city agreeing to drop out of a corruption suit [France 24 report] against him. Chirac was ordered to stand trial [JURIST report] on related charges of embezzlement and misuse of public funds last October. The charges were originally filed in 2007 [JURIST report] after Chirac’s presidency ended and he no longer had judicial immunity.

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