12 September 2011 Last updated at 05:04 ET

Chirac and De Villepin 'given $20m by African leaders'

French ex-President Jacques Chirac, and presidential hopeful and former PM Dominique de Villepin were given $20m by African leaders, partly to finance election campaigns, a lawyer alleges.

Robert Bourgi said he was personally involved in handing Mr Chirac briefcases full of cash.

But he added there was "no proof, no trace" of the secret payments.

The ex-leaders have vowed to sue Mr Bourgi. They deny the claims, coming seven months before presidential polls.

Mr de Villepin is seen as a major centre-right rival to President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Mr Chirac is currently on trial in absentia on charges of illegal party funding. A medical report says he is too unwell to attend and suffers memory lapses.

'Clean France'

In an interview for the Journal de Dimanche newspaper on Sunday, Mr Bourgi alleged that he had been involved in handing over several suitcases to Mr Chirac during his tenure as mayor of Paris in the 1980s and 1990s.

He said the suitcases always contained at least 5m francs ($1m; £630,000) and sometimes as much as 15m.

The first handover of money in Mr de Villepin's presence occurred in 1995, he said, involving 10m francs from the then Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko.

Mr Bourgi said that money from the leaders of several former African colonies was then passed to Mr Chirac and Mr de Villepin over the next 10 years. Speaking on Europe 1 radio, he estimated the total amount to be about $20m.

"I acted in my own name, no-one dictated me this interview," he said, adding that he wanted a "clean France".

Mr Chirac's lawyer, Jean Veil, said on Sunday that he had been instructed to file a defamation complaint against Mr Bourgi, and Mr de Villepin told French TV he would do the same.

"They are trying to stop me from running [for president], they have been putting spokes in the wheels for years, but I have thick skin," he said.

Judges are expected to rule this week on the so-called Clearstream affair, in which Mr de Villepin is charged with plotting to discredit Mr Sarkozy by failing to stop a corruption inquiry 2004.

The former prime minister was cleared of all charges in a trial which ended last year, but the state prosecutor appealed against the verdict.