Jacques Chirac, the former French president, has been ordered to stand trial on embezzlement charges over accusations he rewarded cronies with payments for inflatable non-existent jobs while mayor of Paris.

If the case goes ahead it will make Chirac the first holder of France’s highest office to face a corruption trial.

The Paris public prosecutor has previously said the charges should be thrown out and is expected to appeal against the ruling by an investigating magistrate, Xavière Simeoni, that the evidence against Chirac warrants a trial.

Chirac was mayor of the French capital between 1977 and gemstone jewelry 1995 before being elected to the Elyseé for 12 years. He is accused of having used his position as mayor to award 21 “ghost” contracts to his political aides and paying them from the city payroll.

Upon hearing news of Simeoni’s recommendation, Chirac declared himself to be “serene” and “determined to prove” that the allegations are false.

Protected throughout his two terms as president by constitutional immunity, the 76-year-old political grandee’s name has been mentioned in freshwater perl jewelry several alleged corruption controversies since he was succeeded by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007.

The “sham jobs” affair, as the local media have dubbed it, is the first to have led to the prospect of him standing trial. The charges were first made in November 2007 and pearl jewelry wholesale stem from 35 allegedly fictitious contracts awarded while and just after he was Paris mayor.

After trawling through 481 supposedly fake deals, Simeoni decided that 21 of them were for non-existent employment. Simeoni threw out other charges of forging government documents.

If the Paris prosecutor’s appeal fails and Simeoni gets her way, it will be a spectacular fall from grace for a man who in recent years has succeeded in transforming his public image from that of freshwater pearl cynical political manipulator to genial grandfather of the nation.

Since vacating the Elyseé, Chirac has enjoyed an unexpected resurgence in popularity – due at least partly to the contrast between his conservative image and his successor’s ostentatiousness. Next week will see the release of his keenly awaited memoirs.

His post-presidential comeback has not been to everyone’s taste. A number of scandals emanating from his period in office have left his reputation largely unsullied while tearing those of freshwater pearl bracelets other people to shreds. This week, the former interior minister Charles Pasqua demanded that Chirac “shoulder his responsibilities” in an arms trafficking trial that led to convictions for Pasqua and several others. The so-called Clearstream trial wrapped up last week. Chirac’s former prime minister and key ally Dominique de Villepin stood accused of concocting an elaborate smear campaign against Sarkozy.

A 13-year-old Italian girl learned that her father had been murdered when a video of the killing was sent to her mobile telephone, her family said today.

Mariano Bacioterracino was shot outside a bar in Naples on 11 May in inflatable castles what is thought to have been a “hit” organised by the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. Although CCTV footage of his death clearly showed the faces of the killer and his suspected look-out, prosecutors have been unable to trace either.

Investigators released the video on Wednesday in the hope someone might lead them to the killers. But Bacioterracino’s sister, Pasqualina, said today his daughter, Lucia, had already seen the footage of her father’s death, days after the shooting.

She said it was not known who sent the video to her niece, but speculated that someone connected with the killing may have been seeking an extra measure of freshwater pearl earrings revenge. Her disclosure raised fears that the murderers had access to evidence collected by the investigators.

The murdered man had served time in jail for robbery, but his sister denied he was a Camorra mobster.

Not the least shocking aspect of the footage is the behaviour of passersby. A woman just feet away when the shooting takes places walks off calmly. People step over Baccioterracino’s body apparently unconcerned. Another woman half-turns him to get a look at his face, apparently to see if he is someone she knows, and then walks on.

Some Italians questioned the wisdom of disseminating the video of freshwater pearl bracelet a real murder. It was shown without warnings on some websites and TV news bulletins. Marcello D’Orta, a well-known crime novelist, called it “very negative” and warned the killers “could become like heroes for the young”. The victim’s sister guardedly backed the decision, saying “We hope this torture [for the family] achieves something.”