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| Europe |
| French Court Reduces Sentence Of Former Prime Minister Juppe |
| 2004-12-01 |
| Former French Prime Minister Alain Juppe got a new lease on his political life on Wednesday when appeals judges reduced his sentence in a party financing scandal, opening the door for his possible return to office in elections in 2007. The court sentenced Mr. Juppe to a 14-month suspended prison sentence, down from the original 18 months, and barred him from elected office for just one year, instead of the potentially career-ending 10-year ban handed down in January in his first trial. The shorter ban could allow Mr. Juppe to run for office in 2007, when presidential and legislative elections are scheduled. Nevertheless, Mr. Juppe will, for now, still have to give up his remaining post as mayor of the southwestern town of Bordeaux. Allies on the right immediately expressed hope of a comeback for Mr. Juppe once the ban is over. But opposition politicians questioned whether he owed his reprieve to his long relationship with President Jacques Chirac.... Before his conviction, Mr. Juppe was widely seen as Mr. Chirac's favorite to succeed him as president. Mr. Juppe served as Mr. Chirac's first prime minister in 1995-1997, and the French leader famously once praised his ally as "the best among us." Mr. Juppe's decision to step down as head of Mr. Chirac's Union for a Popular Movement, or UMP, party opened the way for the ambitious Nicolas Sarkozy to take over the post... But Greens party legislator Noel Mamere said the ruling shows that Mr. Chirac "still has a lot of power over a section of the justice system." ... Mr. Juppe was convicted for an illegal party funding scheme while he served as finance director at Paris City Hall during Mr. Chirac's tenure as mayor, from 1977 to 1995. The verdict was an embarrassment to the French leader because in convicting Mr. Juppe judges sanctioned a system of political financing in place under Mr. Chirac's watch. City funds were used to pay personnel of Mr. Chirac's Rally for the Republic party, the UMP's predecessor. Bogus city jobs were created to hide the source of funding. In its ruling, the appeals court said it was "regrettable" that Mr. Juppe sought during the trial to minimize his role in the scandal and "did not think it necessary to assume the entirety of his legal responsibilities before the law." The ruling also criticized Mr. Juppe for not applying party financing regulations that he had voted for as a lawmaker... |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 "We found his behavior 'regrettable', so we reduced his sentence for him." |
| Posted by: Dishman 2004-12-01 8:55:26 PM |