PARIS, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- The funding scandal surrounding French President Jacques Chirac grew Tuesday with the filing of an embezzlement suit against his political party.
The London Independent reports the conviction last Friday of former Prime Minister Alain Juppe has pitched Chirac into a swirl of controversy and suspicion. Juppe and several others were convicted by three judges of using taxpayers' money to bankroll UMP party jobs.
Bertrand Delanoe, the socialist mayor of Paris, said the convictions prove the the now-defunct RPR used funds illegally while Chirac was mayor of Paris. Delanoe said he would seek compensation from the RPR's successor, the UMP. A suit seeking millions of euros in compensation was filed Monday.
In response to the national outcry, Chirac Monday ordered an inquiry into allegations the judges who tried Juppe were bugged, burgled and harassed.
Judges and left-wing politicians said this amounted to a declaration by the head of state that politicians, and especially Chirac's allies, were not subject to ordinary processes of the law.
