Chirac refuses to testify over dirty tricks scandal

Source: Agence France-Presse

Chirac refuses to testify over dirty tricks scandal

Sat Jun 23, 4:06 AM ET

PARIS (AFP) - Former French president Jacques Chirac has
refused to testify in a political dirty tricks scandal while he
was in office, but a newspaper said Saturday he has been
summoned over a separate party financing affair.

Chirac's office said the Gaullist leader, who stepped down as
president on May 16, did not have to answer questions in the
so-called Clearstream scandal which involves alleged attempts
to discredit new president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Under the constitution "the president of the republic is not
responsible for acts committed in this capacity" and a former
head of state could not be made to testify on things that
were "done or known during his mandate and in carrying out
his functions," his office announced late Friday.

The Clearstream scandal centred on faked bank documents
bearing names of prominent figures -- including Sarkozy --
who were falsely alleged to have received illegal commissions
from the sale of French warships to Taiwan.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070623/ts_afp/francepoliticschiraccorruption_070623074034

Stranger how elected leaders are forgetting that they ARE accountable for their actions, isn't it?

Source: The Observer

Chirac to be interviewed over charges of corruption

Jason Burke
Sunday June 24, 2007
The Observer

Jacques Chirac, the former president of France, will be
interviewed on corruption charges in the coming weeks,
it was revealed yesterday. The former premier has been
dogged by allegations of malpractice during his time as
Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995, particularly the charge
that he gave fictitious jobs to party workers. At least
four different investigating magistrates want to talk to
Chirac, 74, who lost his immunity from prosecution when
he left the Elysée Palace and theoretically risks prison.

Chirac, however, has refused to appear as a witness in a
separate inquiry into the so-called 'Clearstream' affair, a
corruption scandal which gripped France 18 months ago.
Investigators want to know if Chirac ordered a secret
intelligence inquiry into claims that his bitter rival and
successor Nicolas Sarkozy had received illicit funds into
a hidden bank account. The claims, it has now been
established, were baseless.


Link: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2110280,00.html