Former French President Jacques Chirac Convicted on Corruption Charges

[babayah67]

Sasa hivi nimesikiliza Idhaa ya kiswahili ya BBC, wametangaza kuwa Rais wa Zamani wa Ufaransa Bwana Jac Shiraq, aliyekuwa anashtakiwa kwa kosa la kutumia vibaya madaraka yake wakati akiwa Raisi wa Ufaransa. Mahakama imemkuta na hatia na kumuhukumu kifungo cha mwaka mmoja jela. Je hukumu hii inatoa ujumbe gani kwa nchi zetu za kiafrika?????

============

Guilty: Jacques Chirac did not take part in the trial, after doctors determined that he suffers severe memory lapse


A French court has found former President Jacques Chirac guilty in a historic verdict of embezzling public funds to illegally finance the conservative party he long led, and handed him a suspended prison sentence.

Mr Chirac, a savvy world diplomat and icon of France's political establishment for decades, is the first former French head of state to face prosecution since the World War II era.

But the 79-year-old former leader did not take part in the trial, after doctors determined that he suffers severe memory lapses.

The court said today it had found Mr Chirac guilty in two related cases involving fake jobs created at the RPR party, which he led during his 1977-1995 tenure as Paris mayor.

He was convicted of embezzling public funds, abuse of trust, and illegal conflict of interest. Mr Chirac repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

It is estimated his criminal behaviour cost the public around 1.4 million euros.

He was given a two-year suspended prison sentence, which gives Mr Chirac a criminal record but means he does not have to go behind bars.

The court said it took into account his age, health and status as a former head of state when determining the sentence.

Disappointed: Georges Kiejman, one of Mr Chirac's lawyers, outside the Paris courthouse today. He said he hoped the ruling did not tarnish Mr Chirac's reputation

Adopted daughter: Anh Dao Traxel was among members of the Chirac family who attended the court hearing, where Mr Chirac was given a two-year suspended sentence

Downing Street visit: Mr Chirac, with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2001, was French president between 1995 and 2007

Unusually, the prosecutor had requested earlier that the case be dropped, saying not enough evidence proved intentional corruption.

The court disagreed, saying 'his guilt results from long-standing and reiterated practices' of illegal party financing.

Mr Chirac is the first former French head of state to be convicted since Philippe Petain, found guilty in 1945 of collaborating with the Nazis

Mr Chirac's lawyer Georges Kiejman said: 'For all those who could have expected a rejection of the case against him, or at least no penalty, the ruling can appear disappointing.

'What I hope is that this ruling doesn't change in any way the deep affection the French feel legitimately for Jacques Chirac.'

Mr Kiejman said he did not yet know whether Mr Chirac intended to appeal the decision.

Mr Chirac enjoyed immunity from prosecution during his 1995-2007 presidential tenure, during which he led France into the shared euro currency and strongly opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

He becomes the first former French head of state to be convicted since Marshal Philippe Petain, the leader of the World War II Vichy regime, who was found guilty in 1945 of collaborating with the Nazis.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2074506/Former-French-president-Chirac-guilty-embezzling-public-funds-spared-jail-sentence.html
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[Kiranga]

Former French President Jacques Chirac Convicted on Corruption Charges

Read more: Popular Former Leader Contemplating Appeal | Global Spin | TIME.com

Former President Jacques Chirac will not only go down in history as the first French head of state since World War Two to stand trial; he'll also now be known as first to have been convicted as well. On Dec. 14, Chirac was found guilty of illegal use of taxpayer funds and abuse of public confidence while serving as the mayor of Paris in the early 1990s. Although the two-year suspended prison sentence handed down with the ruling means the 79 year-old former president will not spend any time in jail-or suffer any other significant legal sanction for his acts-an ailing, embarrassed Chirac will likely appeal the verdict.

The case stems from Chirac's 18-year stint as mayor of Paris, an electoral stronghold he used to mount successive presidential runs ahead of his victorious 1995 bid for the Elysée. Despite numerous suspicions-and earlier court cases -alleging Paris' city hall had functioned like Chirac's personal and political fiefdom during that time, Wednesday's verdict focused specifically on the period of 1992-1995. During that span, Chirac is accused of having overseen a purported scheme under which 28 members of his conservative party were paid salaries for fictional municipal jobs. Chirac and his eight co-defendants all pleaded not guilty to those charges. Two were acquitted, but the rest-barring one individual whose sentence was waived-were convicted to suspended sentences. Chirac's lawyers said they'd decide whether to appeal after consulting with the ex-president, who did not attend to any of the proceedings due to failing health.

Indeed, it's because the aging Chirac is said to suffer from increasingly fragile physical and mental condition that some observers believe the former leader will decide to challenge Wednesday's ruling as a last shot to protect his place in history. That could either come by being acquitted in a re-trial, some legal experts say, or leaving the conviction hanging unconfirmed in legal limbo should Chirac die awaiting appeal. As it is, Chirac has dedicated so many years fighting the charges it would make little sense to give up now.

Chirac initially began that battle while still in office by citing presidential immunity when investigators sought to question him in the case. Within six months of Chirac's departure from the Elysée, however, justice officials called the former head of state in for interrogation and quickly placed him under official investigation -a status in France akin to being named a suspect.

Then things got really interesting-and (this being France) very political.

After a review of evidence in the inquiry, France's top prosecutors ruled the dossier too weak to take to court, and requested the case be dropped-sparking cries of political meddling to protect Chirac from justice. But an independent magistrate responsible for examining the inquiry and the prosecutors' motion ordered the case to trial , provoking surprisingly mixed responses from politicians, pundits, and the public. Despite the multiple and at times surreal accusations of corruption that had dogged Chirac before, during, and after his presidency, it turned out the troubling precedent of an aging former president being dragged into court wasn't one a majority of the French public wanted to see established.

Neither, it turned out, did many of Chirac's political opponents-some of whom lamented the trial as an obsessive waste of time for illicit acts alleged to have occurred long ago. Last year, as Chirac's court case loomed, Socialist politicians who now rule Paris' city hall agreed to drop their litigation in exchange for a $3 million reimbursement by Chirac and his conservative party, a sum corresponding to taxpayer money lost to fund the false employment scheme. Despite that accord, justice authorities-and anti-corruption plaintiffs in the case-held their ground and pushed their complaint to trial. Surprisingly, Chirac's legal woes combined with other factors to generate considerable public backing for him. One consequence of that was that the man who left office with record-low approval ratings quickly soared to the list of France's most popular figures-far outstripping his successor and foe , Nicolas Sarkozy.

Time, it seems, is being very kind to public memory of Chirac, as well as of a presidency that not all that was once synonymous with stasis and drift. That public esteem is due in part to favorable and nostalgic comparisons with the divisive and controversial President Nicolas Sarkozy. Once reputed as being a ruthless tuer (or "killer") of political foes and ambitious allies alike, Chirac came to be seen later in his career as a calm and sagacious father figure-a reputation enhanced by his prescient opposition to the war in Iraq. Meanwhile, whereas corruption allegations had previously led pundits and average citizens to deride Chirac as pourri (rotten), these days even his former political opponents tend to tut-tut suspicious of misbehavior by the former president as the acts of an incorrigible filou (scamp).

All of that makes it likely that even if Chirac doesn't challenge his conviction-or isn't found innocent through appeal-he isn't likely to be remembered foremost in France for his new, unenviable place in French presidential history. That's especially so because-in stark contrast to so-called Anglo-Saxon sensibilities-the French remain remarkably pragmatic and forbearing when it comes to certain kinds of wrong-doing by officials. Politicians found guilty of corruption for personal gain suffer public fury and contempt that usually ends careers. By contrast, those judged culpable of fraud benefiting peons and their political parties seem to enjoy considerable leniency in the court of public opinion. A corruption conviction synonymous with political death in North America, Germany, or the U.K. isn't necessarily fatal-or even too debilitating-in countries like France or Italy.

Just ask Alain Juppé-who long acted as Chirac's right-hand man in Paris' city hall, served as his prime minister from 1995-1997, and was widely considered Chirac's heir-apparent as the right's presidential champion. In 2004, Juppé was found guilty of corruption under the same fake jobs scheme his former boss has now been condemned for. The result was an 18-month suspended sentence and temporary ban from politics that most observers thought spelled the end of Juppé in public life. Yet after a brief timeout in the wilderness, Juppé has since returned to arguably his finest political form, serving in successive cabinet positions under Sarkozy and currently winning much praise as France's Foreign Affairs Minister. In fact, Juppé's post-conviction fortunes have reversed themselves so dramatically that he's still considered by some of his fellow conservatives as a more credible candidate for the 2012 presidential election than the unpopular Sarkozy. It's a renaissance and ascendancy suggesting that perhaps only age-rather than his rap sheet-could keep Chirac himself from considering another stab at the Elysée.


Read more: Popular Former Leader Contemplating Appeal | Global Spin | TIME.com​

 

[Nyani Ngabu]

With CCM at the helm, we will never see anything even remotely close....at least not in our generation.

 

[moshingi]

Supremacy of the Law
Let law raw as it is...........

 

[cartura]

kinga dhidi ya rais kushtakiwa kwa makosa aliyofanya wakati akiwa madarakani inapaswa kuondolewa ili kuongeza uwajibikaji

 

[Victoire]

Makosa hayo aliyafanya kabla hajawa raisi.Alitumia vibaya madaraka wakati akiwa mayor wa Paris

 

[utantambua]

Makosa hayo aliyafanya kabla hajawa raisi.Alitumia vibaya madaraka wakati akiwa mayor wa Paris

Thanks for clarification. Lakini kwa bongo hiyo haiwezekani, si tunasikia mkulu akiwa wizarani alivyofanyaga?

 

[Memo]

mkuu, sisi hatujui kujifunza mambo ya maana.
Sisi ni mabingwa wa kuiga sio kujifunza.

 

[kicha]

dah wezungu apo ndo wanapojitafautisha na sisi, kweli haki ipo kwa wenzetu.

 

[Jasusi]

Zambia wameweza. Tunahitaji regime change Bongo ama sivyo nchi itazidi kudidimia kwenye limbwi la ufisadi. Nasikia Lowassa anajiandaa kupigania helm ya uongozi wa CCM.

 

[Mwali]

Remember he is accused for things he did before his presidential mandate... Alipokua Rais walishindwa kabisa kumfatilia na alipewa nick name ya "chat perché".Kwa kweli inapendeza kuona hivi on Tzv but most of the time it is merely a game played by the current political power (his family) to clean its hands. Politic is a dirty game.

 

[Kiranga]

Remember he is accused for things he did before his presidential mandate... Alipokua Rais walishindwa kabisa kumfatilia na alipewa nick name ya "chat perché".Kwa kweli inapendeza kuona hivi on Tzv but most of the time it is merely a game played by the current political power (his family) to clean its hands. Politic is a dirty game.

I hear you.

Regardless ya kawa convicted kwa vitu alivyofanya akiwa rais au la. Significant thing here ni kwamba Ufaransa ukiwa rais hakuna guarantee kwamba hutashtakiwa na kuwa convicted.

Tanzania Kikwete aliulizwa kuhusu Mkapa kushitakiwa akasema something to the effect kwamba haiwezekani kwa sababu ni "Mzee wetu" (his words). Mzee wenu nani? Na akiwa "Mzee wenu" ndiyo hawezi kufanya mabaya?

 

[Mwali]

I hear you.Regardless ya kawa convicted kwa vitu alivyofanya akiwa rais au la. Significant thing here ni kwamba Ufaransa ukiwa rais hakuna guarantee kwamba hutashtakiwa na kuwa convicted.Tanzania Kikwete aliulizwa kuhusu Mkapa kushitakiwa akasema something to the effect kwamba haiwezekani kwa sababu ni "Mzee wetu" (his words). Mzee wenu nani? Na akiwa "Mzee wenu ndiyo hawezi kufanya mabaya?"

Hivi nikuulize: Nyerere alikua member wa chama gani? Mbona leo kuna watu wengi wa chama hicho wanamponda? Angekua hai, unadhani wangeshindwa kujitokeza watu wa kumfungulia mashtaka? Basi ndio hivo hivo. Nadhani hakushtakiwa kwa nia ya kuweka mambo sawa na ku-reestablish law and order, nashani ilikua ni mpango wao wenyewe (UMP). Walijua kabisa kua Chirac alipita mara ya pili sababu watu walivote 'against Le Pen' walasio "for Chirac", na walielewa watahitaji kukubaliana nao kwa hicho kitu.Imetokea tu bahati mbaya ahukumiwe miezi 6 kabla ya uchaguzi? we unaonaje kaka yangu?Kweli inafurahisha kuona kua hakuna mtu alie juu ya sheria ila kwa kweli nadhani hii ni politics zaidi... wanatafuta kura kwa nguvu

 

[Kiranga]

Hivi nikuulize: Nyerere alikua member wa chama gani?

TAA, TANU, CCM

Mbona leo kuna watu wengi wa chama hicho wanamponda?

Mie si mwanachama, na sijawahi kuwa mwanachama wa chochote kati ya hivyo, kwa hiyo hilo swali siwezi kulijibu. Ni lao, si langu.

Angekua hai, unadhani wangeshindwa kujitokeza watu wa kumfungulia mashtaka?

Sijui. Alternative history has never been my strong suit.

Basi ndio hivo hivo.

Hivo hivo nini? Did you assume an answer I did not give? A yes or No simplistic answer maybe?

Nadhani hakushtakiwa kwa nia ya kuweka mambo sawa na ku-reestablish law and order, nashani ilikua ni mpango wao wenyewe (UMP). Walijua kabisa kua Chirac alipita mara ya pili sababu watu walivote 'against Le Pen' walasio "for Chirac", na walielewa watahitaji kukubaliana nao kwa hicho kitu.Imetokea tu bahati mbaya ahukumiwe miezi 6 kabla ya uchaguzi? we unaonaje kaka yangu?Kweli inafurahisha kuona kua hakuna mtu alie juu ya sheria ila kwa kweli nadhani hii ni politics zaidi... wanatafuta kura kwa nguvu

You entirely miss my point.

I am not interested in whether Chirac was corrupt or not.

I am not interested in whether this was a fair, balanced trial or a politically motivated one that dug left right and center only to come with frivolous charges, amplify them to the maximum, and convict Chirac unfairly only because he was of a certain pesuasion, or not.

The focus of this thread is that, the French can charge and prosecute a former president.

Tanzania hata Mwenyekiti wa CCM wa mkoa tu ni demigod anayeweza kuua in broad daylight bila kushtakiwa.

Na a former president ni "Mzee wetu" bila hata kuambiwa, "Mzee wetu" ni mtu wa aina gani, "wetu" kina nani na "Mzee wetu" anaweza kufanya vibaya au la?

 

[Saint Ivuga]

Kiranga jibu maswali acha kuyakimbia..
1.Mbona leo kuna watu wengi wa chama hicho wanamponda?
2.

 

[Kiranga]

Kiranga jibu maswali acha kuyakimbia..
1.Mbona leo kuna watu wengi wa chama hicho wanamponda?
2.

Nishajibu.

Swali hili ni sawa na kuuliza "Mbona Mwanaidi anapenda rangi nyekundu" kwa mtu ambaye si Mwanaidi, hampendi Mwanaidi, na labda hata hataki kumjua wala kumpenda Mwanaidi kiasi cha kujua kwa nini Mwanaidi anapenda rangi nyekundu .

Sana sana, hata kama anampenda Mwanaidi na kutaka kujua kwa nini Mwanaidi anapenda rangi nyekundu, atakupa opinion, hawezi kukupa jibu.

Kama unataka jibu muulize mwenyewe Mwanaidi.

Kama unataka jibu, waulize wananachama wa "chama hicho" mie sio mwanachama na siwezi kujua rituals za ndani ya chama.

Mie si Mwanaidi, siwezi kukuambia kwa nini Mwanaidi anapenda rangi nyekundu.

 

[mpayukaji]

Ipo siku Mwinyi, Mkapa na Kikwete watahukumiwa kwa ufisadi waliotenda kwa taifa letu inshallah.

 

[Kiranga]

Ipo siku Mwinyi, Mkapa na Kikwete watahukumiwa kwa ufisadi waliotenda kwa taifa letu inshallah.

Naona kuna chance kubwa zaidi watakufa kabla ya kuhukumiwa.

Angalia life expectancy ya bongo, halafu angalia miaka yao.

Halafu angalia progress ya mapinduzi bongo.

 

[Mwali]

Kiranga, nadhani the ends justify the means. doing something right for a wrong purpose is wrong. Kama alistahili au hakustahili kuhukumiwa, Chirac has been used and I wouldn't want that to happen in Tanzania. That is my opinion.

 

[Kiranga]

Kiranga, nadhani the ends justify the means. doing something right for a wrong purpose is wrong. Kama alistahili au hakustahili kuhukumiwa, Chirac has been used and I wouldn't want that to happen in Tanzania. That is my opinion.

My point is, Tanzania hatuwezi kumshtaki rais mstaafu kwa sababu yoyote. Which is a shame.