Criminal investigators are to question Jacques Chirac, the former French President, over his role in corruption scandals dating from his time as Mayor of Paris before 1995, his lawyer said over the weekend.

The confirmation from Jean Veil of Mr Chirac’s imminent session with examining judges follows the lapse last week of the immunity from prosecution that he enjoyed for 12 years. Mr Chirac’s summons was regarded as inevitable because he has so far given no account of events under his 18-year tenure as mayor and Gaullist party chief, which led to suspended prison terms and heavy fines for his subordinates.

Judges at Nanterre want to question him first about a false jobs scheme in which staff of the Rally for the Republic (RPR), his party, were paid by the city council. In 2004 Alain Juppé, his deputy, who later served as Prime Minister, was given a 14-month suspended prison sentence and a year’s ban from politics for his role in the affair. Between 1983 and 1998, 460 people received council salaries as members of Mr Chirac’s mayoral staff although they worked full-time for his party and other organisations, according to investigators. The “fake jobs” scheme was just one of several multimillion-pound scandals during Mr Chirac’s tenure as mayor.

The Nanterre judges are also investigating whether Bernadette Chirac, his wife, and possibly the former President himself received free flights on a now-defunct airline founded by a close friend. Mr Chirac, 74, is thought unlikely ever to stand trial since many possible offences have been voided by the passage of time and because of his rank as former head of state, legal experts say.

However, he is likely to face the humiliation of questioning.

The shadow of possible proceedings is weighing heavily on the newly retired President, his entourage have told the media. His mood was not improved when François Fillon, the Prime Minister, said on television last week that the end of his immunity meant that “Mr Chirac is a citizen as liable to justice as any other”.

Mr Veil denied press reports that a date had been set for an interview, but added: “I told them that the former President would be at their disposition to answer all their questions at a time convenient to them.”

Mr Chirac has, however, refused another summons, to questioning over the so-called Clearstream affair, a murky case about a smear campaign against Nicolas Sarkozy, his successor, and other public figures, that broke two years ago.

Half a dozen people are under criminal investigation into the affair, which centres on a computer listing of secret accounts at Clearstream, a Luxembourg clearing bank. Accounts in Mr Sarkozy’s and others’ names proved to be false.

The cases

Paris City Hall inquiries

—Fraudulent payments allegedly made to members of Mr Chirac’s RPR party

—40 bogus jobs allegedly given to members of the RPR in the Mayor’s private office when Mr Chirac was mayor

—Guy Legris, former head of Paris RPR, under investigation over embezzlement allegations

—Investigation launched in 1997 into misuse of public funds at the city’s printers

—Investigation launched in 2003 into suspected employment of city gardeners for work in elected official’s private gardens between 1983 and 2001

Source: Agencies

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