FRENCH President Jacques Chirac has no legal case to answer for notching up high dining expenses while he was mayor of Paris, a court said today. Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe, a member of the opposition Socialist Party, filed a civil complaint last year over the food bills amassed by Mr Chirac and his wife Bernadette between 1987 and 1995. But a Paris appeals court dismissed the case, saying the statute of limitations had lapsed. Mr Chirac, who was reelected as president in 2002 for a five year term, has declined to comment on the allegations. He remains immune from questioning or possible prosecution as long as he is head of state, but his wife enjoys no such immunity.
The city of Paris can still take the case to France's highest appeals court. The city's lawyer said he would assess today's court decision before making a statement. Mr Delanoe filed the complaint after an audit he ordered found Mr Chirac and his wife spent €2.2 million ($2.85 million) on wine and food for private entertaining between 1987 and 1995, more than half of it in cash. According to the report, food bills amounted to €600 ($1000) a day on average. Money was also spent on items such as subscriptions to private television channels, kitchen utensils, the purchase of a television and camping equipment. The authors of the audit, made public by a Green city councillor, concluded cash payments may have led to misappropriation of funds. They pointed to some bills which appeared to have been paid several times, and others which appeared to be for fictitious items. Mr Chirac was also at the centre of a probe into large suspect cash payments he made for private trips abroad in the 1990s. He denied any impropriety.
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