Former French president Chirac sentenced for graft

Former French President Jacques Chirac has been sentenced to two-years in prison for diverting public funds and abusing public trust.

Chirac, who was French President from 1995 to 2007, was put on trial on charges dating back to his time as mayor of Paris.

Chirac, 79, was, however, given a suspended sentence. He was also not in court to hear the verdict because of ill-health but denied wrongdoing.

The trial judge found Chirac guilty of misusing public funds, making him the country's first head of state to be convicted since Nazi collaborator Marshal Philippe Petain in 1945.

The judge declared Chirac, 79, guilty of knowingly operating a system that diverted about 1.4 million euros of Paris City Hall funds for political purposes when he was mayor of Paris.

Chirac was found to have channelled public money into phantom jobs for political cronies as mayor between 1977 and 1995, and built the centre-right Gaullist party that helped him become president of France.