We called him L'escroc way back then and he still got re-elected. And in the piece to which we have linked, we see him (Chirac) cosying up to Merkel over the "constitutional crisis" created by the French referendum after the rejection of the constitutional treaty.
But now it is offical. Chirac has been found guilty in a French court of embezzling public funds, and diverse other crimes. But the 79-year-old did not have to attend court, and gets only a two-year suspended sentence.
Those who said crime doesn't pay obviously didn't have French presidents in mind. Effectively, Chirac has got away with it, although it is some small comfort that we can properly refer to him as a crook, that being now his official status.
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