MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-10-09 |
| FROM | Ron Guerin
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [hangout] Poor French are upset we discovered their corruption
|
On Sat, 2004-10-09 at 04:48, Ruben Safir Secretary NYLXS wrote:
>
> The anger of France and others is focused on the assertions in the
> report by Charles A. Duelfer, the top American arms inspector in Iraq,
> that French companies and individuals, some with close ties to the
> government, enriched themselves through Iraq's efforts to gain
> influence around the world in the years before the war.
Keep in mind, the Jacques Chirac himself would probably be on his way to
jail if not for the immunity from prosecution the President of France
enjoys.
Excessively immune syndrome
Feb 5th 2004
From The Economist print edition
Nobody should be above the law—not even Jacques Chirac
ANOTHER week, another French politician convicted of corruption.
Only this time the politician, Alain Juppé, was not just a
former prime minister, serving mayor of Bordeaux and president
of the ruling UMP political party. More tellingly, he was the
protégé, closest associate and preferred successor of the French
president, Jacques Chirac. And the party-financing chicanery for
which he was convicted took place when he was working for Mr
Chirac, then mayor of Paris, in the mid-1990s. Indeed, the
judges hinted strongly that Mr Chirac was really responsible.
Mr Juppé is appealing against his conviction (see article). But
the case raises an obvious question: why is the president not in
the dock as well? The answer is that, under the constitution, he
enjoys sweeping immunity from prosecution for any offence short
of high treason, even one committed before he assumed office. In
1999 Mr Chirac obtained a ruling from France's constitutional
council that this immunity allowed him to refuse to answer
questions put by an investigating magistrate. Mr Chirac insists
that the immunity is meant not to protect him, but to uphold the
dignity of the presidency—although he has conceded that the
constitution should have a mechanism for presidential
impeachment.
Dignity of the presidency. *cough*
- Ron
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