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He's My Japanese Boy
How do we say this sensitively?
If former President Jacques Chirac had hoped for an uneventful retirement, he must be disappointed.The Independent has an interesting round-up of Chirac's latest travails. Police are said to investigating reports of a secret Japanese bank account with around £30 million stuffed into it over the years. This comes as judges hope to question the ex-Prez on a party funding scandal, which claimed the scalps of several Chirac loyalists while he was in power.
One of Chirac's most memorable acts was to usher in a presidential immunity clause, protecting him from prosecution while in office.
The Indie, however, gets all coy over Chirac's love of Japan and all things Japanese. Chirac is reported to have visited Japan 54 times in the past 37 years, mostly on private visits: He is a lover of Sumo wrestling and Japanese art. "His Japanese connections have always been a matter of great sensitivity", writes John Lichfield.
Wonder why?
Hmmm. In September 2003, EURSOC reported on an Independent story that Chirac was rumoured to have fathered a child in Japan. The story circulated among Paris gossips and several satirical magazines that year, but the rumours soon died down. Even the Indie's original story is unavailable.
