Former president Chirac indicted for embezzlement

While he served as mayor of the French capital between 1977 and 1995, Chirac is accused of having paid seven members of his former RPR party with City Hall funds even though their work was not related to his duties as mayor.

The former president, who testified in the case in July 2007, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. But in October of this year, a Paris court also decided to pursue charges against him in a separate case of alleged misappropriation of public funds.

Though the investigation began in the late 1990s, Chirac himself was only put under formal investigation two years ago because he benefited from judicial immunity while he was president, between 1995 and 2007.