Jacques Chirac, the former French president, was being questioned today by a judge investigating a "fake jobs" scam during his long reign as mayor of Paris, judicial officials said.

The investigation is into allegations that members of Mr Chirac's Rally for the Republic (RPR) party had their salaries paid by City Hall, or by companies that won contracts there. Mr Chirac was mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995, after which he became president - enjoying full presidential immunity until he stood down in May.

Mr Chirac’s close ally, the former prime minister Alain Juppe, was convicted over the same affair in 2004, earning a one-year ban from politics, but investigators had to wait until Mr Chirac left Elysee Palace before being able to question him.

Interestingly, the 74-year-old was being interviewed by Judge Alain Phililbeaux as an "assisted" or material witness, rather than as an ordinary witness, which means that the possibility of criminal charges against him remains open, judicial sources said.

The interview took place at Mr Chirac’s office on the rue de Lille in the Left Bank area.

In a signed article in today's Le Monde, Mr Chirac said that his decision to answer the judge’s questions was “perfectly normal and in keeping with the conception I have always had of the principles of the Republic".

Mr Chirac’s close ally, the former prime minister Alain Juppe, was convicted over the same 'fake jobs' affair in 2004, earning a one-year ban from politics.

Last month, Mr Chirac's lawyer, Jean Veil, said that his client would “answer all questions in all the cases that may concern him” in investigations relating to events before he took over as president. Mr Veil has been given a judicial dossier amounting to 30,000 pages to help him prepare for the interview.

However, Mr Chirac continues to claim presidential immunity in the so-called Clearstream scandal, which took place when he was president.

The Clearstream investigation is into allegations that Nicolas Sarkozy, Mr Chirac's successor, was the victim of a smear campaign in 2004 aimed at derailing his bid for the presidency

Dominique de Villepin, Mr Chirac's last prime minister, is to be interviewed next week over the case and press reports suggest that he might be officially placed under judicial investigation - a first step towards charges - for libel. Mr Chirac has also been implicated in the Clearstream investigation.

Mr Chirac also faces a police investigation into the existence of a Japanese back account set up in his name in the early 1990s with as much as £30 million in it - money that investigators think could be linked to French nuclear testing in the Pacific.

(Published by Times Online, July 19, 2007)