A judge in Paris has ordered former French President Jacques Chirac,77, to stand trial on charges of misuse of public funds and abuse of trust, while he was the mayor of Paris from 1977-1995. It is the first time  that a former head of state is ordered to stand trial.

Chirac has always denied any wrong-doing, and issued a statement from Morocco, where he is on holiday with his family, saying that he faces the charges with serenity and determination to prove his innocence. Dominque Paille, a spokesman for the ruling UMP party said it was “regrettable” that Jacques Chirac  should be sent to stand trial at the end of his life.

Chirac was elected president of France in 1995, and as reports began to surface that the Paris mayor’s office had illegally financed his RPR political party in the early 19990s, he ran again in 2002, assured of immunity from prosecution by a controversial new law. He was re-elected by a landslide, only because many voted for him to exclude his far-right opponent in the run-off, Jean-Marie LePen.