In other French news, noted lover of Sumo and other Japanese traditions, l'Escroc was forced to deny that he had a bank account in Japan with £30 million (300M Francs = €45 M) in it. This seems to have been mentioned as a sort of throw away remark by General Rondot, the man being quizzed by French judges about his "Clearstream" investigtion:
A French intelligence chief, Gen 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.
[...]Le Canard said Mr Chirac's alleged account in Japan had been mentioned incidentally during Gen Rondot's questioning. But a close confidant of the president was quoted as saying: "The President of the Republic categorically denies the information reported by the Canard Enchainé. The president has never had an account at the Sowa Bank."
One suspects that l'Escroc may be taking lessons from his pal "never personally sold Iraqi oil" Pasqua in how to make factually accurate but possibly misleading statements.
Interestingly though the General has apparently complained about the selective quotation of his testimony (somewhat bizarre machine translation) as it seems possible that this allegation was something to do with meddling in previous presidential campaigns by the DGSE French intelligence services (hey CIA this is how you nobble presidents) and hence could well be less than totally honest.
On the other hand though what seems more likely to my cynical mind is that it is in fact true but that the DGSE didn't want it known because it made for good blackmail to ensure that l'Escroc didn't disturb them. It is hard to predict what will happen next but I'm by no means alone in comparing Clearstream with Watergate. The amount of muck being racked up by the investigating judges will be hard to ignore and could well cause political embarassment to a whole host of the French elite.