French court suspends trial on former President Chirac

French court suspends trial on former President Chirac

2011-03-08 21:44:14 GMT+7 (ICT)

PARIS (BNO NEWS) -- A Paris court on Monday suspended the corruption trial against former French President Jacques Chirac for embezzling funds while being mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported.

On Monday, just after the trial began, Jean-Yves Le Borgne, a lawyer of Chirac, asked the judge to refer the case to a constitutional court to decide if some of the charges were admissible since they date back to the 1990s.

After consideration, presiding judge Dominique Pauthe ordered the suspension of the trial while the constitutional court analyzes the allegations by Chirac's legal team. This could delay trial until June.

Chirac is accused of using public money to pay people working for him and the former president faces ten years of prison if found guilty in the month-long trial. Chirac rejected any corruption accusations.

The case was stalled for years as Chirac enjoyed immunity while serving as president from 1995 to 2007. He was scheduled to appear for the first time on Tuesday. The Paris trial is the result of the merger of two separate cases; one opened in the Paris suburb of Nanterre in 1995 and the other in the French capital in 1998.

In addition, nine other people are on trial alongside the former French leader. The corruption allegations have already convicted of current Foreign Minister Alain Juppe. Chirac has been involved in other corruption cases but never convicted.

If the former French leader is found guilty, he could be sentenced to up to ten years of imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 Euros ($209,965) due to the embezzlement and breach of trust charges.

In 2010, Chirac was involved in a case over civil charges but a Paris city hall dropped the accusations against the former mayor in return of a payment of approximately 2.2 million Euros ($3 million) from him and the and the right-wing UMP party.

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