Chirac and the Japanese Bank Account

As Jacques Chirac's Presidential immunity comes to an end the story of his supposed secret Japanese bank account is rearing its ugly head again. Now, it is true that the story is coming from Le Canard Enchaine, sort of a French Private Eye. Yes, lots of very interesting stories some of which are even true.

One thing though:

Mr Chirac took the exceptional step of denying that he had a secret bank account.

Not quite true. A year ago, when this first leaked, the denial was a great deal more specific than that:

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."

That's a much more restrictive statement. As I mentioned at the time, that leaves open the idea that there is an account at another bank.