Chirac dogged by corruption claims

Chirac: The allegations centre on his tenure as Paris mayor

PARIS, France -- French President Jacques Chirac has sidestepped questions over corruption allegations -- saying he is focusing all his energies on this week's European Union summit.

But allies said Chirac would eventually respond to the allegations levelled against him and his RPR party.

The long-running investigation into alleged party financing scams during Chirac's lengthy tenure as Paris mayor intensified last week when Michel Roussin, a former chief aide to the president, was arrested.

A court said on Tuesday that Roussin could leave Paris's Sante prison once the terms of a $40,000 bail release were finalised.

Although other parties are implicated in the allegations, the spotlight has fallen on Chirac because his RPR party is alleged to have been most heavily involved and because he was mayor at the time of the suspected abuses.

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Chirac has remained silent over the affair and on Tuesday ducked questions about the saga during a joint news conference with French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin ahead of the crucial EU meeting opening Thursday in Nice.

"I'll tell you something. We are completely concentrated on today's task, that is to reach an accord at Nice," Chirac said.

"It is difficult and believe me we are working very hard to achieve this, which means we need to dedicate all our energies and thoughts to it."

The three-day summit is aimed at thrashing out a treaty to prepare the 15-nation bloc for the entry of a dozen new members. France currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

Chirac's allies said he would eventually respond to the corruption allegations.

"At the right moment, the president will have to speak," former minister Dominique Perben said in Tuesday's Le Figaro newspaper.

RPR President Michele Alliot-Marie told Le Monde daily that she could not rule out a public statement: "But, I think he will do so in a quiet moment and not under pressure," she said.

Magistrates are investigating allegations that politicians in the French capital exacted huge bribes from construction companies in return for public works contracts to build schools in the Paris area.

Chirac was mayor of Paris from 1977-95 and many of the probes have homed in on the RPR party, which he founded.

On Tuesday, government coalition party the Greens said they would support an impeachment motion presented in parliament by Socialist deputy Arnaud Montebourg.

Montebourg said 22 deputies in the lower chamber were ready to sign his motion. It needs 58 signatures to be debated.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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