Paris - Former French President Jacques Chirac has been ordered to stand trial in a second party financing case dating back to his 1977-1995 tenure as Paris mayor, judicial officials say.
The cases would mark the first time a former leader of modern France is forced to stand trial.
Chirac, 77, already is set to go on trial in March in one long-standing corruption case.
An investigating judge in the Paris suburb of Nanterre has now ordered Chirac also to be tried for “illegal conflict of interest” in a similar case, the officials said on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity because of judicial policy.
The prosecutor's office could appeal that order.
Chirac - who founded the Rally for the Republic party, the precursor to President Nicolas Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement - has for years been dogged by a series of party financing scandals, with allegations that he set up a system to feed millions of euros of funds to his party.
While he held France's highest office from 1995 to 2007, Chirac used his presidential immunity to keep investigators away.
In the case investigated in Nanterre, Chirac has faced questions about seven jobs at his former conservative party that were improperly paid for by City Hall or by construction companies. The charge against him carries a prison term of up to five years, while Chirac risks up to 10 years in the other case. Still, observers say any time behind bars would be extremely unlikely.
In the other affair - also centreing on a phony jobs scandal at City Hall - Chirac is charged with embezzlement and breach of trust.
His lawyers have expressed hope that the two cases could be tried at the same time, a decision that has not yet been made.
Chirac has denied any wrongdoing and noted that France long had no judicial rules regarding a framework for party financing. He also has pointed out that the government passed several laws from 1988 to 1995 as it tried to clarify the rules.
The former leader now devotes much of his time to his charitable organisation, La Fondation Chirac. - Sapa-AP