Chirac may escape trial with fake jobs settlement

Former French president Jacques Chirac may escape facing trial in a high-profile corruption case that has dogged him for years. France’s ruling UMP party and Chirac himself have agreed to pay back thousands of euros in salaries paid by the city of Paris for fake jobs while he was the capital’s mayor.

Reuters

City officials on Wednesday confirmed a report in Le Canard enchainé weekly paper, which revealed that a deal had been struck.

Chirac is to pay 550,000 euros and President Nicolas Sarkozy’s party, the successor to Chirac’s RPR which benefitted from the fictitious jobs, is to pay 1.65 million euros, thus apparently paying back the cash plus interest and costs.

In return the city will drop its civil case against the former president, who should have appeared in court later this year to face charges of misuse of public funds and abuse of confidence. Since public prosecutors asked for the case to be dropped in 2009, they should logically bow out of the procedure if the settlement goes through.

There was confusion in the ranks of the UMP on Wednesday with Paris party chiefs denying that there had been any contact with the Socialist-run council.

But Le Canard enchainé says that Sarkozy himself fixed the deal - even though he and Chirac are bitter political enemies - but forgot to tell his own party.

Representatives of Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë also denied negotiating with the UMP. But the Green party, which is in alliance with Delanoë’s Socialists, slammed the move, pointing out that one of its councillors first brought the affair to light.

The case revolves around 21 jobs which did not actually exist but whose salaries were claimed and used to finance the RPR. Most major French political parties have resorted to similar schemes to dodge the law on political financing.

Paris has struck similar deals in the past. In 2004 the UMP paid 900,000 euros when former prime minister Alain Juppé faced charges relating to the same case. And the Force Ouvrière trade union handed over 228,000 euros for the salary of a chauffeur, who was paid by the city but worked for its leader Marc Blondel.

The deal has to be agreed by a full council meeting, either at the end of September or in mid-October. It is likely to be passed since only the Greens have spoken out against it.