After a summer of tales of grimy sex and allegations of brown envelopes stuffed with cash, France's political elite is set for another drubbing this week when former President Jacques Chirac faces trial for embezzlement.
Chirac, 78, is the first French former head of state to face criminal charges since Marshal Philippe Petain, head of the war-time collaborationist Vichy regime, was convicted of treason in 1945.
But there are doubts that he will be convicted or even appear in court on Wednesday, for Chirac says he is mentally unfit to stand in the dock.
The claim is likely to face widespread scepticism. Less than three months ago, Chirac published the second volume of his memoirs before spending the summer in St Tropez and Brittany as the guest of tycoon Francois Pinault.
Chirac "is not going senile", Chirac's biographer, Jean-Luc Barre, told the daily Parisien. "He has things to say and he can cope with [the trial]. I myself don't have any worries for him."
In past weeks, though, his family have been describing him as being in a steep mental decline, prone to bouts of memory loss that at one point made him forget the outcome of the May 1968 student revolt.
In a letter to the court, Chirac said he wanted the case, which opens tonight NZ time, to come to a conclusion to show that justice was being upheld, his lawyers said.
"He insists on his willingness to assume his responsibilities, even if he no longer has the full capacity to take part. He therefore requests that he be represented by his attorneys, who will speak on his behalf," they said. A report on Chirac's mental health by a neurologist has been handed to the court, the lawyers added.
After enduring years of delay and legal challenge, the case was to have started in March. But it was immediately adjourned on technical grounds.
Judge Dominique Pauthe has three choices, say experts. He can insist Chirac appear; agree that he can be tried in his absence; or order further medical tests, a move that would hold up proceedings.
Anticor, an anti-corruption group which is a civilian plaintiff, voiced outrage. "Once more, they are making last-ditch manoeuvres whose clear aim of course is to prevent Jacques Chirac from appearing in court in his lifetime," Anticor said.
The trial coincides with a slump in public faith in France's governing class ahead of presidential elections, now less than eight months away.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former finance minister and former head of the International Monetary Fund, faces a mighty task in rebuilding support at home after being accused of coercive sex with a hotel maid in New York. The charges were dropped last month. Strauss-Kahn arrived in Paris from New York last night.
President Nicolas Sarkozy himself, who came to office on a campaign of clean hands after the sleaze-tainted Chirac years, has been accused of underhand dealings.
According to a new book by Le Monde reporters Gerard Davet and Fabrice Lhomme, further evidence has emerged that L'Oreal heiress Lilian Bettencourt gave cash-stuffed envelopes to leading right-wing politicians as under-the-counter donations to their election campaigns.
One of the beneficiaries was Sarkozy, they said, quoting an examining magistrate who interviewed a nurse who worked for the elderly Bettencourt. The Elysee presidential palace derided the claim as "without basis, mendacious and scandalous".
Chirac faces charges of misuse of public funds, breach of trust and illegal profiteering dating back to when he was mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995. The main accusation is that he put 21 cronies and party loyalists on the city payroll. He denies the charges.
Chirac enjoyed immunity from prosecution while was President from 1995 to 2007. His right-hand man, Alain Juppe, who is now Foreign Minister, was given a 14-month suspended jail term and one-year deprivation of civil rights in the same affair. Nine others are on trial.
If convicted, Chirac faces up to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to €150,000, but this outcome is unimaginable.
"Political" trials in France are notoriously prone to pressure, from both inside and outside the judicial process. Chirac loyalists portray him as a frail elderly statesman who has devoted himself to public service. Prosecuting him would do no good to the country and only sully the office of the presidency, they say.
State prosecutors, who operate under the hierarchical authority of the government, have called for the case to be dismissed. The City of Paris, governed by Socialist Bertrand Delanoe, has already accepted compensation of €2.2 million ($3.6 million), half a million of it from Chirac, although without acknowledgement of any wrongdoing. The rest came from Sarkozy's UMP party, the successor to Chirac's RPR party.