Former President Jacques Chirac did not respond directly to news he has been ordered to stand trial, but a statement from his office said he was serene and determined to clear himself.

VOA: standard.2009.10.30

Relations between former French president Jacques Chirac and German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder were particularly strong and the two forged a united front against the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

VOA: standard.2009.11.11

It was not until 1995 that former French President Jacques Chirac became the first French leader to officially admit the state had played an active role in the Holocaust.

VOA: standard.2010.04.10

Before the first round, former president Jacques Chirac added his support to Hollande.

CNN: How DSK's fall led to Hollande's rise

Before the first round of voting, former President Jacques Chirac added his support to Hollande, though Chirac was a center-right president, like Sarkozy.

CNN: Fran?ois Hollande: Left turn for France?

The Cahuzac affair comes on top of other scandals: the conviction of former president Jacques Chirac, the New York court case that wrecked the career of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the Bettencourt investigation, in which former president Nicolas Sarkozy is suspected of party funding violations.

BBC: France's President Hollande: Eradicate tax havens