Former French PM found guilty of corruption
Agencies
Friday January 30, 2004
Former French prime minister Alain Juppe was today found guilty of corruption and barred from holding public office for a decade, a decision that is almost certain to end his presidential ambitions.
Mr Juppe, 58, the head of France's centre-right UMP party and the current mayor of Bordeaux, was found guilty after a scandal which saw Paris city funds used to pay political allies in the late 80s and early 90s.
The current French president, Jacques Chirac, a long-time ally of Mr Juppe, was mayor of the city at the time of the scandal.
Today, a judge in Nanterre, close to Paris, handed Mr Juppe an 18-month suspended sentence for his role in the affair and banned him from public life.
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