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A French court has given former President Jacques Chirac a two-year suspended prison sentence for diverting public funds and abusing public trust. Mr Chirac, 79, was not in court to hear the verdict because of ill-health but denied wrongdoing. President from 1995 to 2007, he was put on trial on charges that dated back to his time as mayor of Paris. He was accused of paying members of his Rally for the Republic (RPR) party for municipal jobs that did not exist. The prosecution had urged the judge to acquit Mr Chirac and nine others accused in the trial. Two...

ALAIN JUPPÉ, resurrected in politics after a criminal conviction in 2004 for political chicanery, is the quiet, strong center of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s effort to secure re-election in France next year. Mr. Juppé, 66, France’s foreign minister, is serious, competent, polite, intelligent and slightly dull — just the kind of “homme sérieux” that voters suspect Mr. Sarkozy, with all his impatient flash, is not. Having been foreign minister from 1993 to 1995, and then prime minister, Mr. Juppé was brought back to the Quai d’Orsay in February this year to restore calm, order and credibility to a ministry shaken by...

Ex-French President Jacques Chirac says he is not in a fit state to attend his corruption trial, reports say. He has asked the Paris court for his lawyers be allowed to represent him, AFP news agency has reported. Mr Chirac, 78, is accused of embezzling public funds in the 1990s, when he was mayor of Paris. He denies the charges. The trial is due to start on Monday, having been adjourned in March after a co-defendant argued that some of the charges were unconstitutional. In a letter to the Paris court on Friday, the former leader wrote that he wanted...

The 77-year-old, whose presidency of France ran from 1995 until 2007, could face a ten-year prison sentence and 150,000-euro (£130,000) fine if found guilty. He will be the first modern French leader to face a corruption trial. Mr Chirac faces charges of abuse of public funds while he was mayor of Paris. It is alleged that he paid 21 allies for doing non-existent jobs as part of his drive for power in the 1990s. Last month, the Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, agreed to drop the town hall's civil lawsuit against Mr Chirac in exchange for 2.2 million euros...

The 77-year-old, whose presidency of France ran from 1995 until 2007, could face a ten-year prison sentence and 150,000-euro (£130,000) fine if found guilty. He will be the first modern French leader to face a corruption trial. Mr Chirac faces charges of abuse of public funds while he was mayor of Paris. It is alleged that he paid 21 allies for doing non-existent jobs as part of his drive for power in the 1990s. Last month, the Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, agreed to drop the town hall's civil lawsuit against Mr Chirac in exchange for 2.2 million euros...

MI6 hired Al Qaeda men to kill Gaddafi: ex-official By Martin Bright LONDON: The British government will this week go to unprecedented lengths to stop a renegade counter-intelligence officer, David Shayler, from making his most devastating claim yet : that the Libyan Islamic cell paid by British intelligence agents to assassinate Colonel Gaddafi in February 1996 were members of Al Qaeda. The Libyan cell is believed to have included one of Osama bin Laden's most trusted lieutenants, Anas al-Liby, who remains on the US government's most wanted list with a reward of $25 million for his capture. Al-Liby lived in...

Startling revelations by French intelligence experts back David Shayler's alleged 'fantasy'about Gadaffi plot Martin Bright, home affairs editor Sunday November 10, 2002 The Observer British intelligence paid large sums of money to an al-Qaeda cell in Libya in a doomed attempt to assassinate Colonel Gadaffi in 1996 and thwarted early attempts to bring Osama bin Laden to justice. The latest claims of MI6 involvement with Libya's fearsome Islamic Fighting Group, which is connected to one of bin Laden's trusted lieutenants, will be embarrassing to the Government, which described similar claims by renegade MI5 officer David Shayler as 'pure fantasy'. The...

Decision Brief No. 05-D 44 2005-08-31 On eve of U.N. push for global government, advocates urge Senate to approve a building block: The Law of the Sea Treaty (Washington, D.C.): As concern grows that the United Nations is intent on replacing what the National Security Guidance calls "an orderly arrangement of sovereign states" with a proto-world government - complete with the ability to impose international taxes, a new push is being made for a treaty that would advance that purpose: the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). This sovereignty-sapping agenda is at the heart of a dispute now playing...

Every child, Muslim or not, KNOWS Islam hates what America stands for. As a European, I understand why many Americans wonder why we don't give more support to the US than we do. You, indeed, supported US, even in our darkest hour; at a point in history we Europeans didn't even support our own freedom. This was just some decades ago. One sort of answer to this question is that deep somewhere in the intrinsic soul of Europe, there is true resistence to evil and enslavement, but after having experienced so much of it, we are somewhat unable of expressing...

PARIS (AFP) – Jacques Chirac will be the first former French president to be tried for corruption, officials said Friday, after charges from his years as mayor of Paris returned to taint the twilight of his long career. Chirac stands accused of giving political allies lucrative bogus jobs as city hall "ghost workers" and his trial will be the latest in a series to expose graft and dirty tricks at the highest levels of state. Judicial officials confirmed to AFP that Chirac would face trial on charges of "abuse of trust" and "misuse of public funds". A statement from the...

Just as President Jacques Chirac was vehemently arguing against invading Iraq in late 2002, General Philippe Rondot wrote that he had been given the green light to "recover" top officials including Tariq Aziz, Saddam's foreign minister. Previously unseen extracts of Gen Rondot's private diaries were reprinted in the newspaper Libération. In a passage dated Dec 3, 2002, the general refers to an "agreement in principle to 'recover' if necessary Mr Aziz and Al-Rafai" – said to be a senior Ba'ath Party politician. The two men were believed to have been considered useful to the French while Gen Rondot knew Aziz...

Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible's satanic agents of the Apocalypse. Honest. This isn't a joke. The president of the United States, in a top-secret phone call to a major European ally, asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God. Now out of office, Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their "common faith" (Christianity) and told him: "Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East. ... The biblical prophecies...

It is in many ways the weirdest shard of reporting from those years, and its testimony is from no less than the former president of France: The president of the United States, in a top-secret phone call to a major European ally, asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God. Now out of office, Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their "common faith" (Christianity) and told him: "Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who...

Another Day, Another Diplomatic Incident Another day, another diplomatic incident caused by the Obama administration. France is the latest ally to be insulted by President Obama. It seems that President Obama, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro, sent a letter to the President of France. The problem is that the letter was addressed to the former President of France, Jacques Chirac, and not to the actual President of France, Nicholas Sarkozy. The story is translated from French, Barack Obama Insults the Frenchcourtesy of Monsters and Critics:

It's long been the case that the easiest way for an American and a Brit - whatever their respective political persusasions - to bond is to chuckle over something rude about the French. Jokes about garlic, frogs' legs, surrender, duplicity, take your pick - it's safe ground. If Barack Obama had gone on Leno and made a barbed quip about our Gallic friends instead of the Special Olympics he'd have been home free. So perhaps the new president is being devilishly clever by, as Le Figaro reports, writing to Jacques Chirac, former French president, that: "I am certain that we...

March 22, 2009 Foreign Policy Gaffe Machine Strikes Again; Obama Sends Note to Chirac Pledging Friendship, Working Relationship Update: I agree with the commenters who think that Obama was just being cozy with Chirac, and hadn't actually forgotten who the President of France was. At the same time, this is a clear snub to Sarkozy and his pro-War on Terror policies (or at least, more pro-WOT than his predecessor). It's also slightly ridiculous for Bambi to claim to be looking forward to working with an out-of-power French leader, especially when he has made no visible effort to work with France's...

Help me out here folks Could he really be this stupid???? Now Obama has insulted French President Sarkozy! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh no! Obama sent a letter to Chirac, saying he looks forward to working with him the next four years. Le Figaro, French newspaper is horrified at the faux pas. Doesn't Obama ever consult his staff before acting? Sarkozy is the President there! It's like Sarko writing to George Bush and saying he looks forward to working with him. Chirac is the FORMER president. Here is a translation of the letter in Le Figaro: Vendredi 20 mars 2009 OBAMA PREFERS CHIRAC...

Former French President Jacques Chirac was rushed to a hospital after being mauled by his pet dog who is being treated for depression, in a dramatic incident that rattled the ex-president's wife. The couple's white Maltese poodle, called Sumo, has a history of frenzied fits and became increasingly prone to making "vicious, unprovoked attacks" despite receiving treatment with anti-depressants, Chirac's wife Bernadette said.

Former French president Jacques Chirac was rushed to hospital after being mauled by his own 'clinically depressed' pet dog. The 76-year-old statesman was savaged by his white Maltese dog - which suffers from frenzied fits and is being treated with anti-depressants. The animal, named Sumo, had become increasingly violent over the past years and was prone to making 'vicious, unprovoked attacks', Chirac's wife Bernadette said. The former president, who ruled France for 12 years until 2007, was taken to hospital in Paris where he was treated as an outpatient and sent home, VSD magazine reported. Mrs Chirac said: 'The dog...

<p>Fox news ran stories last night based on some of the things we were tracking right here in this post. Here is their on line story.</p> <p>As unfinished as my research is, I feel compelled to release what I've found so far as the story cannot wait any longer.  I am not looking for a scoop on anyone or anything, but at the same time I don't want anyone thinking I made this stuff up after the fact either.</p>

I'm Absolut Swedish but NEVER EVER again will I buy Absolut Vodka and I will, at least, TRY to avoid other products of V&S Group (their repertoire is a pretty broad one though and I kinda party from time to time..), a former Swedish company which recently was sold to French Pernod Ricard (for the sum of €5,626 billion). I've also managed to convince my father and some of my friends to join my initiative and I'll continue to campaign! The background is, of course, the already infamous Absolut Vodka ad with the words "In an Absolut World" slapped over...

U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won surprise backing from the wife of former French President Jacques Chirac on Thursday, together with a pledge to join her on the campaign trail. The Chiracs' political affiliations are at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Clintons', but the former French first lady said she had always thought Democratic candidate Clinton had the makings of a U.S. president. "She's a woman who is not liked by everybody. But she's strong and she has convictions," Bernadette Chirac, well-known for a forceful character of her own, told the weekly Le Figaro magazine. In the...

PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won surprise backing from the wife of former French President Jacques Chirac on Thursday, together with a pledge to join her on the campaign trail. The Chiracs' political affiliations are at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Clintons', but the former French first lady said she had always thought Democratic candidate Clinton had the makings of a U.S. president. "She's a woman who is not liked by everybody. But she's strong and she has convictions," Bernadette Chirac, well-known for a forceful character of her own, told the weekly Le Figaro...

Former President Jacques Chirac was placed under formal investigation on Wednesday on suspicion that he misused public funds by handing out bogus work contracts while mayor of Paris. Chirac's lawyer, Jacques Veil, said a judge examining "fraudulent misuse of public funds"questioned his client for three and a half hours on Wednesday. Veil said: "They talked in general terms about the organization of the Paris City Hall," which Chirac headed as mayor between 1977 and 1995. More hearings would follow, the lawyer said. Chirac, whose term ended in May, defended himself in an article published in Le Monde on Wednesday. He...

PARIS - Alleged wrongdoing in Jacques Chirac's past came back Wednesday to trouble his retirement, when a judge took the unprecedented step of filing preliminary embezzlement charges against the former two-term president of France. Chirac insisted he had committed no wrongdoing. Political opinion was divided on whether the judge had scored a victory for French justice or merely underscored its impotence — because only since he left office in May have judges been able to pursue Chirac. Since he lost his presidential immunity, Chirac has now been questioned by two different judges looking into suspected misuse of public money and...

SKY: Chirac placed under 'formal investigation' in jobs scame probe according to his lawyer.

Chirac's daughter caught in corruption probe Claude Chirac, the daughter of former French president Jacques Chirac, is under investigation over allegations of corruption during her father's tenure as Paris mayor, judicial officials said. A French judge has asked anti-fraud police to investigate her as part of a probe into an alleged party funding scam, they said. The 44-year-old acted as communications adviser to her father at Paris City Hall. Twenty people are under investigation in the case, in which members of the former president's Rally for the Republic (RPR) party are suspected of having received salaries from City Hall and...

One of the key promises that Nicolas Sarkozy had made during his presidential election campaign last spring was to "correct" foreign policy "mistakes" made by his predecessor Jacques Chirac. Chief among these was Chirac's desperate efforts to prevent the liberation of Iraq from Saddam Hussain's regime of terror. Chirac failed to save his friend's regime but managed to do serious damage to relations with the US, Great Britain and more than 40 other nations that joined the coalition of the willing to liberate Iraq in 2003. Sarkozy's moves to correct the mistake started even before his election when he met...

PARIS — President Chirac could become the first former French president to be questioned over alleged criminal acts while in office. Judges intend to question Mr. Chirac in the coming weeks despite his claims of immunity from prosecution. Recently discovered documents suggest Mr. Chirac could be at the heart of the Clearstream scandal — described as the French Watergate. Judges will question his former prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, on September 13.

PARIS (AFP) - Former French president Jacques Chirac was questioned Thursday by a judge looking into a party funding scam dating from his time as mayor of Paris, judicial officials said. Two months after leaving office, Chirac, 74, was interviewed as an "assisted witness" in the presence of his lawyer -- rather than as an ordinary witness -- which means that the possibility of criminal charges against him remains open, Le Monde newspaper reported. The interview with judge Alain Philibeaux took place at Chirac's office on the rue de Lille in Paris's Left Bank. In a signed article in Le...

Former French President Jacques Chirac was questioned for four hours by a magistrate probing a party funding scandal from his time as Paris mayor. Mr Chirac, 74, was interviewed as an assisted witness, which means he could eventually face criminal charges. The inquiry is looking into a fake jobs scheme that was used to finance Mr Chirac's conservative RPR party during his time as mayor in 1977-1995.

Judge questions Chirac on party scandal By PIERRE-ANTOINE SOUCHARD, Associated Press Writer 19 minutes ago A judge questioned former President Jacques Chirac for more than four hours Thursday in an investigation into a party financing scandal that dates back to his time as mayor of Paris, his lawyer said. It was the first time a French president has undergone questioning under such conditions and marks a sobering point in Chirac's four-decade political career. The party financing investigation is the most potent of a string of potential legal problems the 74-year-old Chirac faces now that he no longer has presidential immunity....

A scandal over apparent efforts made by Jacques Chirac and his former prime minister to dash the presidential hopes of his rival Nicolas Sarkozy gathered pace yesterday after evidence emerged suggesting that the current interior minister was aware of the alleged plot. Michèle Alliot-Marie, 61, defence minister when Mr Chirac was president, is expected to be questioned and perhaps placed under investigation after new evidence suggested she was aware of the attempt to smear Mr Sarkozy and failed to inform him. Michèle Alliot-Marie was defence minister when Jacques Chirac's was president The so-called Clearstream affair surrounds allegations that several high-profile...

IN the latest episode of a saga that split France’s last conservative government and threatens to divide the new one, Michèle Alliot-Marie, the interior minister, is to be questioned over what she knew about a plot to smear Nicolas Sarkozy three years ago in an apparent attempt to prevent him from becoming president. A retired spymaster, General Philippe Rondot, claimed last week that he had revealed to Alliot-Marie, who was then defence minister, the details of the alleged conspiracy to blacken Sarkozy’s name. Loyal as she then was to President Jacques Chirac and the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, who...

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...

The former French president, Jacques Chirac, has refused to appear as a witness in an inquiry into the so-called Clearstream affair. The judges want to know whether three years ago Mr Chirac ordered a secret intelligence inquiry into his successor Nicolas Sarkozy over corruption claims. Allegations that Mr Sarkozy received illicit funds have been disproved. Mr Chirac said he would not testify because he was still protected in the case by his presidential immunity. The affair, which transfixed France a year ago, centres on claims that a number of prominent political and business figures benefited from illegal commissions paid as...

PARIS, June 13, 2007 (AFP) - Former French president Jacques Chirac was accused of "treason" Wednesday for allegedly helping the government of Djibouti cover up the truth behind the 1995 death of a French judge. Elisabeth Borrel, who believes her husband Bernard Borrel was murdered by Djibouti agents, said that France cooperated with President Ismael Omar Guelleh's efforts to bury the affair because of fears of losing its military base in the tiny east African state. Her accusation came a day after documents were made public which appeared to show that in 2005 Chirac advised Guelleh to take France before...

See for example this thread first. Jacques Chirac loses immunity What a lovely opportunity We can pay the man back For his aid to Iraq and so help the world community!

A leading Democratic lawmaker lashed out at the former leaders of Germany and France, calling former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder a `political prostitute.' Germany denounced the remarks by Rep. Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as an insult to its people. Lantos' comments about Schroeder and former French President Jacques Chirac, both opponents of the Iraq war, came in a speech Tuesday at the dedication of a monument to victims of communism... "I am so glad that the era of Jacques Chirac and Chancellor Schroeder in Germany is now gone," Lantos said to applause. He said when...

May 27, 2007 Chirac and the ‘secret £30m account in Japan’ Matthew Campbell ON HOLIDAY last week, Jacques Chirac, the former French leader, took his usual suite at La Gazelle d’Or, a luxury hotel in Morocco. He may consider extending his restful sojourn under the palms indefinitely. It has emerged that besides being questioned about an illegal fundraising scandal when his immunity from prosecution expires on June 17, Chirac will also face a grilling over £30m he allegedly kept in a secret Japanese bank account. He had previously denied the existence of any account but judges investigating a separate scandal...

He is a friend of rock star Johnny Hallyday and was close to novelist Francoise Sagan and actor Jean-Paul Belmondo. He was a key source for the society editors of France's most prestigious magazines. Now Marc Francelet, a colourful paparazzo turned businessman and newspaper tipster, has swapped the champagne and canapes for prison rations - the latest victim of a massive investigation into bribes handed out by Saddam Hussein.But the inquiry is revealing more than the shady underside of France's dealings with the Iraqi dictator. Next week Francelet, 60, facing charges of having received a bond worth a million barrels...

LONG-STANDING rumours that the former French president Jacques Chirac holds a secret multi-million-euro bank account in Japan appear to have been confirmed by files seized from the home of a senior spy. Papers seized by two investigating magistrates from General Philippe Rondot, a former head of the DGSE, France's intelligence service, show Mr Chirac opened an account in the mid-1990s at Tokyo Sowa Bank, credited with the equivalent of £30 million. It is not known where the money came from, nor whether it is connected to various kick-back scandals to which Mr Chirac's name has been linked over the past...

LONG-STANDING rumours that the former French president Jacques Chirac holds a secret multi-million-euro bank account in Japan appear to have been confirmed by files seized from the home of a senior spy. Papers seized by two investigating magistrates from General Philippe Rondot, a former head of the DGSE, France's intelligence service, show Mr Chirac opened an account in the mid-1990s at Tokyo Sowa Bank, credited with the equivalent of £30 million. It is not known where the money came from, nor whether it is connected to various kick-back scandals to which Mr Chirac's name has been linked over the past...

PARIS, May 16, 2007 (AFP) - Nicolas Sarkozy took over Wednesday as president from Jacques Chirac, vowing to usher in a period of deep reforms to lift France out of its economic and social malaise. In a symbolic handover of powers, Chirac passed on the launch codes to France's nuclear arsenal and briefed fellow right-winger Sarkozy on current agenda items before being driven from the Elysee palace for the last time. A 21-gun salute rang out from the Invalides esplanade across the river Seine, as the official results of Sarkozy's election victory were read out to an audience of invited...

CITIZEN CHIRAC BEGINS NEW LIFE UNDER CORRUPTION CLOUD PARIS, May 16, 2007 (AFP) - Jacques Chirac, who began a new life Wednesday after stepping down as France's president, plans to devote himself to fighting global warming and poverty -- unless allegations of corruption come back to haunt him. Following a symbolic handover ceremony in which Chirac passed on France's nuclear codes to his successor Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of 12 years was driven from the Elysee palace for the last time. As a private citizen, Chirac confirmed in a farewell speech on Tuesday that he plans to set up a...

NICOLAS SARKOZY BECOMES NEW FRENCH PRESIDENT PARIS, May 16, 2007 (AFP) - Nicolas Sarkozy was officially invested as France's new president on Wednesday following a handover ceremony with outgoing head of state Jacques Chirac at the Elysee palace. The 52-year-old right-winger was ceremonially proclaimed France's 23rd president by the head of the Constitutional Council, following a private meeting with Chirac, who leaves office after 12 years in power. "From this day on you are the embodiment of France, you symbolise the Republic and you represent all French people," Jean-Louis Debre told Sarkozy after officially proclaiming the results of the May...

PARIS, May 16, 2007 (AFP) - An era in French politics comes to an end Wednesday as Jacques Chirac steps down after 12 years as president and hands over power to rightwinger Nicolas Sarkozy. The formal transfer will take place at 11:00 am (0900 GMT) during a short meeting at the Elysee palace. Unlike in the United States there is no swearing-in ceremony, and presidential authority is simply passed on from incumbent to successor. In the same meeting Chirac, 74, will give Sarkozy the codes for France's nuclear arsenal before leaving the Elysee for the last time. On Tuesday evening,...

PARIS, France (Reuters) -- Cheering crowds met French president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy at his first official engagement on Thursday, hours after police in Paris faced rioters chanting "Sarkozy fascist." Sarkozy does not take over from President Jacques Chirac until May 16 but there have been clear signs the right-winger's promise of change in areas ranging from labor law to education policy will face significant opposition. "Mr. Sarkozy has been elected. But I don't think that you can consider that there is a general agreement over his program or that he has the legitimacy to do just anything," Bernard Thibault, secretary general...

PARIS (AP) Au revoir, Jacques Chirac, and bonjour to a new U.S.-friendly French president who identifies with the American dream and happily affirms that the French like burgers, Madonna and Miami Vice. To France's "American friends," Nicolas Sarkozy said in his victory speech: "I want to tell them that France will always be by their side when they need." He added, "I also want to tell them that friendship means accepting that friends can have different opinions." But Sarkozy's gaze in his first months in office will be directed more at home than across the Atlantic. French voters didn't elect...

PARIS, April 11, 2007 (AFP) - French presidential frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy and the office of President Jacques Chirac on Wednesday denied a report that they had struck a deal to shield Chirac from a corruption probe after he leaves office. The Canard Enchaine satirical weekly reported that Sarkozy had agreed to protect Chirac in exchange for an endorsement of his candidacy ahead of the April 22 election. "It's grotesque, it's hurtful and it's untrue," said Sarkozy, 52, the candidate of the governing Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party. "I deny it in the firmest and fullest terms," he said...