Jacques Chirac was interviewed on Thursday by a judge investigating a graft case of fake jobs allegedly involving members of his party during his time as Paris mayor, a spokeswoman for the former French president said. In a commentary in Le Monde daily, Chirac said he was willing to respond to investigators. “I am ready to testify and to respond. Testifying before (public) opinion, responding to the judges. In both cases, I will do it in good faith,” he wrote. Chirac has consistently denied any wrongdoing during his 18 years as mayor of the French capital from 1977-95.
Judge Alain Philibeaux, from the court in Nanterre near Paris, had been interviewing Chirac as an “assisted witness” since Thursday morning, a spokeswoman for Chirac said, adding the hearing was still under way.
ChiracÂ’s lawyer said last month that Chirac, who lost his immunity from prosecution on June 16, one month after leaving office, would not meet judges over any cases involving him during his 1995-2007 presidency.
He could face questioning on a number of cases but the only dossier explicitly to target him dates back to December 2002 and involves fraudulent payments allegedly made to members of ChiracÂ’s conservative Rally for the Republic (RPR) party by the City of Paris.
