PARIS — Former President Jacques Chirac was placed under formal investigation Wednesday on suspicion of misusing public funds by handing out bogus work contracts when he was mayor of Paris.
Chirac’s lawyer, Jacques Veil, said that a judge who was examining “fraudulent misuse of public funds” had questioned his client for 3 1/2 hours Wednesday morning. “They talked in general terms about the organization of the Paris City Hall,” Veil said.
Chirac, mayor from 1977 to 1995 and then president of France until May, defended himself in an article published Wednesday on the opinion pages of Le Monde.
He wrote that he had made “legitimate and necessary” appointments while he was mayor and that “there was never any personal enrichment.”
Chirac is the first former president of modern France to be placed under formal examination. This procedure is a step short of an indictment.
