Critics Accuse Chirac of Appointing Close Ally to Top Legal Post to Escape Charges

The French president, Jacques Chirac, was yesterday accused of appointing a close ally to one of the country's top judicial posts to dodge corruption charges when his presidential immunity ends next year.

Mr Chirac has been dogged by corruption scandals dating from his time as mayor of Paris between 1977 and 1995. But as president he has been immune from investigation. Now aged 73, he is likely to step down in May and lose his protection as head of state.

Yesterday, his former legal adviser, Laurent de Mesle, was named chief public prosecutor of Paris, giving him the power to decide whether to press charges in the capital. Opposition politicians were outraged. The Socialist party leader, François Hollande, accused the president of "wanting to protect himself from future legal action". The Socialists demanded Mr Chirac renounce the appointment of his "closest legal colleague".

France's judges' unions also expressed concern at the 55-year-old magistrate's close relationship to the president. Dominique Barella, the head of the magistrate's union, told Agence France Presse the appointment was "a clear sign of the muzzling of justice" by the government.

The government spokesman Jean-François Cope said he was "shocked" by the uproar and called Mr Le Mesle "a high magistrate whose ethics and competence are widely recognised." He said the cabinet made the decision based on Mr Le Mesle's standing and experience.

Magistrates have launched numerous investigations into allegations of persistent wrongdoing at City Hall during Mr Chirac's tenure. Some scandals have led to the conviction of former city officials. Earlier this week, the trial began of a close ally of Mr Chirac and 14 others charged with committing electoral fraud in municipal elections in Paris in 1989 and 1995.

They are accused of planting 327 phantom voters on the electoral register in Paris's third arrondissement ahead of the 1989 local election, in which Mr Chirac's conservative party was swept to victory.

In July, businessmen and friends of the president were found guilty of corruption for their involvement in a housing scam allegedly used to fund his political party while he was mayor.

Last year, Mr Chirac's former cabinet director, Michel Roussin, was convicted of involvement in a kickback scandal involving contracts to repair Paris schools.

Judges are said to be keen to question Mr Chirac over an illegal party funding scandal involving fictitious jobs, which claimed the scalp of his protege and former prime minister, Alain Juppé.

Mr Juppé, who is seeking to return to politics, received a 14-month suspended sentence in 2004 for taking part in a scheme to put workers for Mr Chirac's neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic party on the town hall's payroll in the 1980s.