Chirac corruption ruling set for December 15

PARIS: A French court trying former president Jacques Chirac and nine others on corruption charges said Friday it will hand down its ruling on December 15.

Chirac has been on trial since September 5 on charges of graft going back two decades when he was Paris mayor.

The Paris prosecutor on Tuesday asked for Chirac and nine other accused to be acquitted.

Chirac, 78, is accused on two counts of hiring members of his political party for non-existent municipal jobs in Paris, where he was mayor from 1977 to 1995, effectively using the civic payroll to employ his own campaign staff.

If found guilty of using public funds to illegally pay for political work he faces up to 10 years in jail and a fine of 150,000 euros ($210,000).

The first French former head of state to go on trial since World War II has himself been excused from the trial after doctors said he was afflicted by memory lapses.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011