Chirac supports disgraced Juppe

French President Jacques Chirac today offered public support to the man once seen as his likely successor but now disgraced after being convicted for his role in a party financing scandal.

The verdict against Alain Juppe, a former prime minister, is now complicated by allegations that the judges hearing the case had received threats.

“I have friendship, esteem and respect for Alain Juppe,” Chirac said, calling his most faithful ally a “politician of exceptional quality.”

“France needs men of his quality,” Chirac said.

Chirac ordered an investigation by France’s three highest magistrates into allegations that the three-judge panel that handed down the verdict on Friday had been subjected to “threats and pressure.”

The prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb of Nanterre was opening its own investigation today and parliament was launching its own inquiry into the allegations, made public by the presiding judge.

In a decision that stunned France, the court gave Juppe an 18 month suspended prison sentence for his role in a party funding scheme while he served as finance director at Paris City Hall during Chirac’s 18 year tenure as mayor.

The conviction meant that Juppe was automatically banned from holding office for 10 years – a crushing sentence for the man who was widely considered to be Chirac’s anointed successor.

The verdict also was an embarrassment to Chirac, whom investigating judges have tried unsuccessfully to question in the scandal.

He is protected by presidential immunity – which he will lose if not re-elected in the next presidential race in 2007.

Juppe, 58, who served as prime minister from 1995 to 1997 and is considered one of France’s brightest political stars, is appealing the verdict.

He was to announce tomorrow whether he would continue his political career during the appeals process – which puts the sentence on hold – or simply bow out.

Juppe wears three political hats, as an MP, mayor of Bordeaux and leader of Chirac’s party, known as the UMP.

Some 1,200 people gathered today in the courtyard of the Bordeaux City Hall urging Juppe to stay on.

“You can imagine that since Friday I have been through some difficult moments,” Juppe said from the stairs in his first public appearance since the verdict.

“I have reflected, I’m respectful of the justice system,” he said, adding that he would announce his plans on Tuesday.

Hours earlier, his mentor, Chirac, paid homage to Juppe during a visit to Marseille. The mayor of the Mediterranean port city, Jean-Claude Gaudin, praised Juppe’s “honesty” and “integrity.”

The conviction stemmed from use of city funds to pay personnel of Chirac’s Rally for the Republic party, now the UMP.

Fake city jobs were created to cover up the source of funding.

Opposition politicians have mainly pointed the finger at Chirac and the system set up to keep the party machine turning.

The case took on a new dimension as allegations of “threats and pressure” on the three-judge panel that convicted Juppe were revealed.

The office of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said the judges had indicated cases of “breaking and entering” at the court.

The judges referred to “threats and pressures on some members of the judicial corps in the heart of this jurisdiction.”

The statement added: “If true, these events are of extreme severity,”

The head judge said her office had received unspecified “visits” and court computers were searched by unidentified people.

“We don’t know who is behind these things,” Judge Catherine Pierce said. The judges also believed their personal and office phones had been tapped, she said.

Government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope said today that he was “a bit surprised” that reports of pressure on the judges only came out after the verdict.