Chirac Denies He Has Secret Bank Account in Japan
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
PARIS – President Chirac took the exceptional step yesterday night of denying allegations that he had a secret Japanese bank account into which $56 million had been paid over a number of years.
Mr. Chirac, who rarely responds to allegations questioning his financial propriety, “categorically” rejected the suggestion made in the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine that he had ever possessed such an account.
A French intelligence chief, General Philippe Rondot, was alleged to have told investigating judges that the large amounts were paid by a “cultural foundation” into an account in the president’s name at the Tokyo Sowa Bank.
General Rondot is at the center of an investigation into who ordered intelligence checks on Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and presidential hopeful.
Mr. Sarkozy had been falsely accused in poison pen mail of holding secret overseas accounts to launder kickbacks from the sale of French warships to Taiwan.
The judges, who are seeking to identify the whistleblower, were reportedly told by the general that he was personally ordered by the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, to investigate Mr. Sarkozy.
Both the prime minister and Mr. Chirac, who was said to have sanctioned such inquiries, deny the charges.
