Monday, March 7, 2011

Chirac, Public Corruption Charges, and Continuances

As you know, we, at The Goolsby Law Firm, LLC, are father and son criminal defense attorneys, (and divorce lawyers), who practice law together in Augusta, Georgia.  As you may also know, I am a former federal prosecutor who has handled a large number of fraud and corruption cases.  Also, in this blog, I generally enjoy writing posts dealing with white collar crime.  Most posts deal with crime issues in the State of Georgia and elsewhere in the United States.
However, today, I wanted to be less parochial and talk a little bit about the upcoming public corruption trial of former French President Jacques Chirac.  According to various news reports, the trial of Chirac, which was scheduled to begin today in Paris, has, once again, been continued.  I guess trial delays are common throughout the world!  Chirac faces trial on corruption charges stemming from alleged embezzlement and conflicts of interest while he served as Mayor of Paris from 1977-1995.  The allegations include stealing money and payments to friends for alleged fictitious work, all while Chirac served as Mayor.  In other words, all the alleged criminal activity occurred many years ago, before he became President in 1995.
Mr. Chirac has consistently maintained his innocence of all the charges and reportedly remains a popular public figure in his country.  Here's hoping that he will soon have his day in court and that justice will prevail!  As my late father might have concluded, upon landing at the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, "Vive La France!"

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