France's Chirac says ready to stand trial

PARIS (Reuters) - Former French President Jacques Chirac said he was ready to appear in court over accusations of embezzlement during his time as mayor of Paris and was determined to clear his name.

Chirac, 76, was ordered last week to stand trial over allegations that when he was mayor, the Paris City Hall handed out contracts for non-existent jobs as a favour to people who were politically useful.

"I want to be able to establish the reality of the facts rapidly so that this page can be turned definitively," Chirac said in an interview to be published in Thursday's edition of the daily Le Figaro.

No former French head of state has been prosecuted for corruption and the case has stirred huge media interest in France.

The Paris prosecutor's office, which had opposed the decision to send Chirac to trial, said on Wednesday it would not appeal the judge's decision, removing a potential obstacle to a court hearing.

The centre-right Chirac, 76, was mayor from 1977 until 1995, when he was elected president. He enjoyed constitutional immunity during his 12 years as head of state but has been hit by legal problems since leaving office in 2007.

Chirac and nine others have been ordered by judge Xaviere Simeoni to stand trial over 21 contracts from the 1990s.

"I have accepted her decision even if I dispute her analysis of the situation, so I will go to explain the position with the 21 jobs that are still under discussions," Chirac said.

"I note that originally, almost 500 jobs were examined by the justice system and people were talking about a real "system", he said. "Today we can see that there is nothing in any of that."

(Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Angus MacSwan)