PRESIDENT CHIRAC was accused yesterday of manoeuvring his former legal adviser into a key judicial post to avoid being tried on corruption charges after leaving office and losing immunity from prosecution.
M Chirac was seeking to appoint Laurent Le Mesle as the chief state prosecutor in Paris. If confirmed by the Cabinet next month, M Le Mesle will have a decisive role in determining whether the President should be prosecuted in connection with corruption allegations when he steps down.
M Chirac’s critics believe that M Le Mesle, 55, will do everything in his power to block action, given his close relations with the head of state. He was an adviser on legal matters to the presidency between 2002 and 2004 and now serves as the head of the private Cabinet of Pascal Clément, M Chirac’s Justice Minister.
“This appointment is shocking,” said Dominique Barella, the head of the Union of Magistrates, which is campaigning against the appointment. “The problem is Laurent Le Mesle’s extreme proximity with the Minister of Justice, and especially with the President of the Republic.”
François Hollande, the leader of the Socialist Party, said that M Chirac was trying to protect himself against possible prosecutions. As head of state M Chirac cannot be interrogated, charged or tried, France’s highest court, la Cour de Cassation, ruled in 2001. But as soon as he steps down he becomes an ordinary citizen in the eyes of the law.
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With only the slenderest hope of re-election next year, M Chirac faces prosecution in connection with a series of scandals dating from his time as the Mayor of Paris between 1977 and 1995. Three have resulted in court cases.
In 2004 Alain Juppé, his closest associate and former Prime Minister, was given a 14-month suspended prison sentence and barred from office for a year for his role in a 1980s racket to award fake jobs to Gaullist party members. Last year Michel Roussin, formerly the head of M Chirac’s private Cabinet, was given a four-year suspended sentence and a €50,000 (£27,000) fine in connection with a system of kickbacks over contracts to repair schools in the Paris region.
This year Georges Pérol, another Chirac associate, was given a two-year suspended sentence and a €20,000 fine over corruption involving public housing contracts in Paris.
M Chirac is alleged to have known about — and benefited from — all three affairs. He is also suspected of involvement in a fourth scandal relating to the manipulation of electoral lists in Paris, which will come to trial this month.
There is debate over the relevance of a prosecution when Mr Chirac leaves office. Hardline legal experts say that he should be brought to justice to demonstrate that no one is above the law. Others say that there is no point in dragging M Chirac to court on allegations that are 15 or 20 years old..
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The President’s opponents say that M Le Mesle will almost certainly adopt a “tolerant” approach if, as expected, he replaces Yves Bot, who is moving to the European Court of Justice.
M Clément insists, however, that M Le Mesle has been put forward because of his “human, intellectual and legal qualities”.